A Most Eggcellent Day!
Did you know that eggs are one of the few foods considered to be a complete protein, because they contain all 9 essential amino acids? Egg yolks are also one of the few foods that are a naturally good source of Vitamin D and contain lutein which protects against the progress of early heart disease! Celebrated on the second Friday of October, World Egg Day helps to raise awareness of the benefits of eggs and their importance in human nutrition.
In our sites eggs provide a great source of both food and income for families. Many family circle groups have started working together to request gift catalog funds to set up their own egg-laying businesses. In our Samar site in Philippines members of a circle group each contributed a small amount of money to build a coop and through the gift catalog received two egg-laying machines with 98 chickens and are now harvesting an average of 90 eggs daily which they sell to sponsored families and nearby stores. By working together they are able to share the work load to care for the chickens and split the profits, benefiting many families at once.
Haiti North began its nutrition program in 2016, thanks to our nutrition fund. Our Haiti North team knew that they needed to choose foods that are rich in the vitamins and protein, and decided on yogurt and eggs. This choice was made possible thanks to a donor funded community project which established a hen barn. Before this there was a very limited supply of poultry and eggs near our site and vendors. From the last gift catalog the hen barn received another 500 laying hens to try and keep up with demand.
“I thank Chalice for the laying hen barn that is in the community,” says Maggie, mother of a sponsored child. “I used to go to the neighboring republic to buy eggs to run my small business and the eggs were often confiscated by customs agents because it is illegal. Now because of the hen house in my community, I can buy eggs to boil and make fried eggs every morning to sell.”
Make a donation to our gift catalog to give a hand up to those in need.