Land O'Lakes subsidiary to donate 54K eggs to Ozarks Food Harvest

About two weeks shy of Easter, Moark LLC, the egg subsidiary of Arden Hills, Minn.-based agricultural cooperative Land O'Lakes Inc., will donate 54,000 eggs, or 4,500 cartons, to Springfield food bank Ozarks Food Harvest.

California-based Moark, which operates its Midwest division in Neosho, will present the donation Monday at a 10 a.m. news conference at the O’Reilly Center for Hunger Relief, 2810 N. Cedarbrook Ave.

“High quality sources of protein, such as nutrient-dense eggs, are especially needed and greatly valued,” said Bart Brown, president and CEO of Ozarks Food Harvest, in a news release. “Counties within our service area have some of the highest poverty rates in the state, and several also have some of the highest childhood food insecurity rates, so we sincerely appreciate this donation. It will go a long way.”

The donation is part of a nationwide effort by the United Egg Producers, a U.S. egg farmer trade association, and Feeding America, which has 200 member food banks, including Ozarks Food Harvest. Through the initiative, egg farmers nationwide are donating nearly 10 million eggs, pushing the number of eggs that have been donated by U.S. farmers to food banks since 2008 to 60 million, or nearly 5 million cartons.

“If you’ve ever met an egg farmer, you know just how incredibly generous and giving these men and women are,” said Gene Gregory, president of United Egg Producers, in the release. “All year long, but especially at Easter, they proudly do what they can to support the communities in which they live and work.”

The Monday donation to Ozarks Food Harvest represents the second in the past year for Moark, which donated 54,000 eggs to the nonprofit in August.

Since moving into the O'Reilly Center in 2009, Ozarks Food Harvest has increased distribution by 59 percent in its 28-county service area. The nonprofit now distributes roughly 12 million pounds of food a year, the release said.