New Yorkers Line Up For Free Eggs Given Out By Black-Owned FarmerJawn Amid Skyrocketing Prices

New Yorkers lined up an hour before the giveaway began for a change to get a free carton of eggs that were completely gone in less than ten minutes.

On March 21, New Yorkers lined up in droves across three different city sites for a chance to receive a dozen free eggs. With the steady rise of inflation, egg prices hit a record high under the Trump administration. People did their best to bundle up against the cold to get their hands on one of 100 cartons of free eggs, which were gone in less than ten minutes. The giveaway was hosted by FarmerJawn in Harlem, Brooklyn, and Queens.

Jackeline Tejava told the Associated Press, “I heard from the news that they will be giving around, like, 1,500 eggs, or something like that. OK? And I just came because I needed some eggs, and then I’m waiting here in the line, and I don’t see anything.” Tejava was in a line that stretched around the block. She added, “They say that the eggs are gone, but there haven’t been even more than 20 people, so I don’t know what happened.”

The bird flu outbreak has forced poultry farmers across the United States to slaughter over 168 million birds, causing the price and scarcity of eggs to rise in big cities like New York. It’s made organizations like FarmerJawn even more important.

The egg giveaway was backed by FarmerJawn, which is a Black-owned 128-acre farm in Pennsylvania. Their mission is to provide affordable organic food to underserved communities. This isn’t the first time they handed out free cartons in New York. To bring the giveaway to life, it partnered with a local butchery and a New York farm upstate to assist in the events of the day.

FarnerJawn founder Christa Barfield said, “We’re doing this egg giveaway because, as food producers, we believe it’s our responsibility to support the communities that support us.”

“Food is medicine, and everyone – especially the often-forgotten middle class – deserves access to it,” she continued.

Outside of FarmerJawn, other organizations have been following their lead and holding egg giveaways in New York and other big cities across the country like Las Vegas and Chicago. The Department of Agriculture reported that egg prices are expected to rise 41% this year over last year’s average of already $3.17 per dozen. Currently in New York, a carton of eggs can cost two or three times that amount depending on the location of the store.