Silver Award Girl Scout, Kayleigh

Eggs for Everyone

Kayleigh raises a flock of chickens and they lay a lot of eggs. She knew that local farmers often can’t sell as many eggs as their flocks produce and that grocery stores often have dated eggs that they destroy. In working with her local food pantry, Kayleigh discovered that pantries often don’t have a variety of sources of protein for their clients, other than dried beans, so Kayleigh teamed up with local farmers and stores and designed a Silver Award project that bridged the gap.

She connected egg producers and distributors to people who could use them and reduced the food waste at a local level. In addition to establishing an egg supply program for the pantry, Kayleigh created resources for clients, ensuring that they'd know how to use the eggs. She created a cookbook, and a video on how to glass eggs, a process of preserving fresh eggs in canning lime so that the eggs can be used at a later time. Kayleigh's project is continuing because she established a relationship with the Knox County Gleaners Association and they have agreed to continue sourcing and delivering eggs for the food pantry.

Kayleigh says that she learned “When things are outside of your control (like a pandemic) you can still find ways to make it happen.” Her advice for other girls working on their Silver Award is that time management and perseverance are important.