By KEVIN WALKER
Michigan Correspondent

LAKE ODESSA, Mich. — Last month Michigan egg farmers donated 620,000 eggs to help feed victims of the earthquake in Haiti.
The earthquake, which happened in January, killed thousands of people and left a large chunk of the population homeless and desperate. Eight farm operations in Michigan did their part by making the egg donation, which is a part of what’s been dubbed the “Eggs to Haiti” project.

The farms include Herbruck’s Poultry Ranch in Lake Odessa, Sunrise Farm Acres in Hudsonville, Old Pike Farm, DeWeerdt Poultry Farm, Schipper Poultry Farm and Zoet Poultry, all near Holland, Konos, Inc. near Martin and Farm Crest Foods near Pigeon.
The farmers trucked their share of the eggs to Herbruck’s on Feb. 18. There, the eggs were cracked at Herbruck’s plant and the liquid, which totaled approximately 48,000 pounds, was chilled to about 35 degrees. After that the liquid product was trucked to Iowa to be dried and then flown to Haiti to help feed people.

“We’re still tracking the shipment,” said George House, executive director of the Michigan Allied Poultry Industries. “Everything’s okay so far. Once the eggs are dried, they can be held for quite awhile.
“We want to be aligned with a reputable agency. We want to make sure this $100,000 donation is going to get to where it’s supposed to go.”

House said they were planning on having the eggs distributed in Haiti by the Feed the Children charity, but a last-minute expose’ on television about the organization created some doubts. According to House, the group has had a schism between the founder and his daughter. One faction would like to take the charity in a new direction, while the other thinks that things are fine the way they are.

The project ended up working with the Food for the Poor charity instead (incidentally, featured as part of a series of articles in Farm World late last year).

According to House, Eggs to Haiti is part of another, more broad-based project that the egg laying industry started in September 2009, called “The Good Egg Project.” This is both educational and charitable. It’s meant to give consumers more information about how eggs are produced and cared for in modern facilities, as well as a positive impression of farmers.

“Donation and giving back is one of the main components of the Good Egg Project,” said Ashley Richardson, a spokeswoman for the American Egg Board (AEB). “The Good Egg Project’s galvanizing ideas include: create a call to action, invite involvement and conversation and create a social movement.”

The project promises to donate one egg to Feeding America, a large hunger relief charity, for every pledge that is taken on its website at www.GoodEggProject.org up to 1 million eggs. The AEB is also doing events around the country to further the project’s goals.
For example, last November it held a community breakfast at a Denver food bank that fed 625 people in need, in partnership with Colorado Egg Producers. The AEB also donated 100,000 eggs to ensure everyone at the event went home with a free dozen.

Last September, with the announcement of the Good Egg Project, Bill McGowan, chief operating officer of Feeding America, spoke: “One in eight Americans go hungry in this country, so our food banks are under enormous stress to provide nutritious meals to feed families in need.

“Over the last two years, America’s egg farmers have donated more than 20 million eggs, allowing us to provide high quality protein foods to our food bank network. We hope Americans will join them in the fight against hunger and pledge their support online and throughout their communities.”