Chocolate Easter egg fundraiser still going strong after 40 years at Lennoxville church

For the 40th straight year, the basement of St. George's Anglican Church in Lennoxville, just south of Sherbrooke, has been turned into a chocolate Easter egg production factory to raise money for the small parish.

The Anglican Church Women's Group makes thousands of decorated chocolate eggs every year over the three weeks leading up to Easter and sells them for five dollars each.

Trudy Whittier is one of the "dippers" who coats the moulded batter others teams have made.

She melts dark chocolate pellets over warm water.

"Sometimes they melt fine, but if it's too hot or too cold, it doesn't work," she said.

She said that if the water boils, the chocolate won't go on smoothly and "goes blobby."

"It doesn't make a good-looking egg at all," she said.

A dozen women gather in the church's kitchen and work morning to night a few days every week as they get ready for the big fundraiser.

Whittier estimates the team makes about 200 chocolate eggs in a day, and she puts in six days each year.

She is joined by Ruth Sheeran, who has been taking part in the fundraiser for 32 years.

Each egg the team makes weighs about 570 grams — or a quarter of a pound — and the group said they are only using the highest quality ingredients, so profit margins are slim.

The fundraiser brings in about $3,000 for the church each year.

The eggs come in eight flavours and are shipped to family and friends across Canada from supporters of the church who buy them.

"Every year we say we're not doing it again, and every year we come back and do it," Whittier said.