The incredible, edible donation

An Arizona business wants to make sure Yuma-area families can participate in a holiday tradition with a donation of almost 1,900 dozen eggs to the Yuma Community Food Bank.

Representatives with Hickman's Family Farms were on hand Wednesday morning to drop off the 22,464 eggs to the food bank.

This is the second year that Hickman's has donated eggs to the food bank. The family donated a total of 700,000 eggs to food banks across Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada and Colorado.

Sharman Hickman visited the Yuma Community Food Bank Wednesday morning for the donation.

Hickman said in addition to being a valuable, nutritional food source, eggs are part of an Easter tradition - something the family is invested in preserving. "For us, it's created a (lot) of childhood memories."

And in their own family, now it's a tradition even the older, college-aged members of the family don't want to miss.

"Following the hunt, it's a great source of protein," she said.

To help ensure the eggs are eaten in time, Hickman suggested putting them back in the carton they came in after they're dyed. She said that way people will always know the expiration date of the eggs.

Hickman said generally, eggs last three to five days refrigerated after they're colored.

The donation is part of the United Egg Producers contribution to Feeding America's national campaign for the past three years.

"We have decades of making egg deliveries to food banks at Easter time, but the official standardized program with United Egg Producers began three years ago," said Clint Hickman, Hickman vice president of sales and marketing, in a news release. "Our average donation at Easter is around 700,000 eggs, and year-round to different organizations combined is approximately one million eggs."

To contact the Yuma Community Food bank about food programs or how to donate, call 343-1243.