Easter egg profits given to charity

Dougie Watt and David Marshall from Meaningful Chocolate Company presenting a cheque for £21,487.20 to Liza Stevens, Traidcraft's Head of Program Funding & Evaluation and Paul Chandler, Chief Executive of Traidcraft

Over £25,000 has been given to charity from profits made by sales of The Real Easter Egg.

The Real Easter Egg is the UK’s first ever Easter egg to mention Jesus and tell the Easter story on the box and was sold for the first time last Easter.

The egg was produced by Manchester based Meaningful Chocolate Company and was supported by church leaders including the Archbishop of York.

Part of the pledge made by The Meaningful Chocolate Company was to make real the Easter themes of hope and new life by donating profits from the egg to charitable causes.

David Marshall, from the Meaningful Chocolate Company, said: “I am thrilled to be able to donate over £21,000 to Traidcraft Exchange and over £4,000 to Baby Lifeline.

“In addition to this, we paid a fee to The Fairtrade Foundation to support their work, including its education programme. Our farmers received a guaranteed price for their cocoa and sugar as well as a Fairtrade Premium of $60 a tonne to invest in their community’s wellbeing.

“With over 80 million eggs sold in the UK every year, we have a long way to go in our campaign to make The Real Easter Egg the gift of choice by the faith and wider community.

“Next Easter we hope everyone will look out for The Real Easter Egg. Buying this egg is a way of reclaiming the festival and a way of communicating key aspects of the Christian faith in an attractive yummy gift.”