Even as eggs become less available, an egg producer based in Santa Maria identified a need following the Los Angeles fires and decided to act, donating 324,000 eggs to the nonprofit Gather for Good and the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank.
"Rosemary Farm decided to partner with their sister farm in South Dakota to bring eggs down," said Linda Sanpei, a representative for the company.
David May, L.A. Regional Food Bank Director of Marketing and Communication, says there is a significant need this year, partly because of the wildfires.
"When you look at the average pounds of food going out year over year, we're able to compare this January and February to last year's January and February and we're seeing about a 35% increase," he said.
He estimates that the eggs donated from Rosemary Farm will cover around 8,000 meals.
"We're very grateful to Rosemary Farm for the donation of eggs, especially at this time when those are so valuable and so rare to come by," May said. "It's really important that we're providing nutritious food to the community. [We're] not just fighting hunger, but we're also fighting nutrition insecurity."
The donation comes almost two months after devastation struck Rosemary Farm's Bakersfield farm.
"Our Bakersfield location, where we had 50,000 hens and pullets, was unfortunately decimated by the avian flu in the month of December," Sanpei said.
But that's not stopping the company from lending a helping hand. Sanpei says Rosemary Farm plans to donate another 240,000 eggs next month.
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