880,000 hard boiled eggs a year?

Fred, Peter, Kurt, Brad, George and Tim.

Today we said goodbye to a team from the Egg Farmers of Canada (EFC) including their Chairman, Peter Clarke.  It’s been an egg-citing week and today is a good day to share it on this blog.  It’s a jaw-dropper!

We met Peter and his team two years ago when I was invited to speak at the International Egg Commission (IEC) Conference in Venice, Italy.   Since that time we have had visits from the Chairman of the IEC, the Chairman of the American Egg Board (AEB) and other important members of their respective teams.    After many conversations, emails, brainstorming sessions and site visits we now have a plan.

You may not believe this one, but I assure you it’s true.

These multi-generational Egg Farmers want to help the orphaned and vulnerable children of Swaziland by providing one of the most nutritious foods on the planet – hard boiled eggs!  Eggs are one of the few foods considered to be a complete protein, because they contain all nine essential amino acids. Amino acids are considered the "building blocks for the body" because they help form protein*.  The children of Swaziland need these building blocks!

Showing the rural children how to peel and eat a hard boiled egg.

The EFC and IEF have chosen Project Canaan in Swaziland to be the Pilot Project for finding ways to help children around the world who are in need of protein and proper nutrition.

The plan is to build an egg production facility that will produce in excess of 18,500 eggs per week, which will then be hard boiled and distributed to the children who are being fed through our rural church partners. This will provide an animal protein every day to each child we currently feed, in addition to the important vegetable protein that the children currently get through the Feed My Starving Children Manna Pack.  The fundraising, expertise and training will come through the EFC, and in addition the IEF is providing the services of Dr. Vincent Guyonnet**, who is the Scientific Advisor to the IEC, for Project Management and expertise.  

Heart for Africa currently provides 74,000 hot meals each and every month to orphans and vulnerable children in the most rural areas. That is 880,000 meals per year.  If the need continues to grow as it has in the past few years we anticipate that number growing to 2.6 million meals by the year 2020.  Our hope and plan is to grow the egg production to meet that need alongside our Feed My Starving Children partnership.

In 12-18 months from now we will have Project Canaan Eggs, in a big way. Un-boiled eggs will be provided for the children living at Project Canaan, which will in turn reduce our monthly grocery spending.  We will be able to train and employ people to work at the poultry facility and we will start distribution to the children at our church partners. 

This will not be a commercial egg production facility – these eggs are to be put into children’s hands and mouths in the same way we would put TOMS Shoes directly on children’s feet … all thanks to a group of kind hearted, caring, passionate, enthusiastic men who believe that this is not just about Corporate Social Responsibility, it is simply the right thing to do.

CEO of EFC, Tim Lambert, and Baby Timothy.

This was an egg-cellent week and we are more than egg-cited about this new partnership, and more importantly, our new friends.

Live from Swaziland … it’s time Get Cracking!

Janine

Of course they also helped with little road repair.

* www.eggs.ca

** IEC Scientific Advisor - Dr Vincent Guyonnet

Dr Vincent Guyonnet, DVM, Ph.D, Dipl. ACPV, was appointed as IEC Scientific Advisor in January 2010. Vincent is responsible for helping IEC deliver on its commitment to science based positions and guidelines as well as developing its relationships with international and intergovernmental organisations.

Vincent is a native of France, he obtained the degree of Doctor in Veterinary Medicine in 1987 from the National Veterinary School of Lyon, France and a Ph.D degree from The University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA in 1991.  He was accepted as a diplomate of the American College of Poultry Veterinarians (US board certification) in 1994.

Vincent joined Burnbrae Farms Limited in June 2005 as Vice President – Research & International Business Development, and in 2007, received additional responsibilities for Quality Assurance.

Prior to joining Burnbrae Farms Ltd, Vincent worked for Pfizer Inc. from 1991 to 2005 in the Animal Health Group.   Vincent assumed a number of positions of increasing responsibilities in research, technical services, regulatory affairs and marketing (Pfizer World Headquarters, NY, NY, USA) and was general manager of Pfizer Australia – Animal Health Group (Sydney, Australia).

He has authored 10 peer-reviewed papers, given 25 communications at US and international scientific meetings and congresses and has been a guest lecturer at universities in Australia, Egypt, France, Malaysia and Thailand.