Gluten/Allergen Free Food Drives Count In Shocking Numbers

It can be easy to forget being charitable once the Holiday decorations are packed away and the credit card statements roll in. Even easier, is to forget to give based on the justified fear of not having enough to take care of your own home during tough financial times.

I am the R.O.C.K.(Raising Our Celiac Kids) Charlotte Chapter Event Coordinator but also run an event company that plans Gluten/Allergen Free Expos across the country. It all started with the Charlotte Gluten/Allergen Free Expo and in under 2 weeks, I will be hosting the first one in Houston, Texas. The best part of these events is seeing children get to eat foods that they normally are denied on a regular basis. But as expensive as the gluten/allergen free diet is to achieve for my family, I can only imagine the despair of not being able to place food on my table, much less that the little bit I was able to afford was making my child ill. I remember that feeling well and it isn't a good one.

Part of our Expo event initiatives is to pair with local food banks to set up allergen free sections and stock them to kick start its success. So, I started researching statistics to get a better grasp on the need locally, and the results are shocking.

Houston Texas is the 5th highest in nation for number of children which are food insecure.
1,871,660 children in the Southern 18 counties of Texas including Houston have no idea where their next meal will come from. 437,590  children in Houston, Texas don't have sufficient food in a day.

If 1 in 133 children have celiac disease, then 14,072 of that 1,871,660 children are not only malnutrition-ed already, but are likely not able to afford a $6 loaf of bread.
If 60% of that 1,871,660 have gluten sensitivity, then 1,122,996 are walking around eating and don't have a clue why they feel so badly.
If 1 in 12 children are now afflicted with a food allergy/sensitivity, then 155,971 of 1,871,660 children can not even get much help from their food bank when they have no allergen safe food to give them.
The Houston Food Bank said they had seen a 20% increase in demand for food in 2009 Just imagine the increase in 2011.

We have asked each attendee to the Houston Glutenology Expo on Feb. 4th bring at least one non-perishable gluten/allergen free food to donate to the Houston Food Bank Allergen Free Food Section....Please think of that shocking number of 155,971 children starving, and make sure you donate regularly.

In St. Petersburg Florida, our next event site, Enjoy Life Foods has generously donated food and the update is copied from the Gluten Free For Life Expo hosts, the Gluten Intolerance Support Group of Largo, Florida, and is transcripted here:

Many Families Served and Need to Now Restock 
the Gluten Free Food Pantry

http://tampaglutenfreefoodpantry.blogspot.com/

Yesterday I went to the Tampa Gluten Free Food Pantry at Metropolitan Ministries to drop off a lot of Gluten Free Cookies that have been donated by Enjoy Life Foods. Enjoy Life donated boxes of snickerdoodles, apple cookies, lemon cookies, chocolate chip cookies, brownie cookies, and their new crispy sugar cookies and crispy honey graham cookies. Thank you so much for your donations Enjoy Life Foods! 

I discovered that the shelves of the Gluten Free Food Pantry were close to bare. The good news is that many families in need have been able to eat this delicious gluten free food that has been donated! However, it also means that now we need to come together again as a gluten free community to donate and restock the Gluten Free Food Pantry. 

If each member of the gluten free community buys a few extra non-perishable gluten free food items each week to donate to the Gluten Free Food Pantry, we should be able to gather enough food again to help! Please bring food donations to either the Gluten Free For Life Largo Support Group Meeting on Saturday January 28th or the Tampa Celiac Support Group Meeting on Saturday February 11th. I will put all of the donations in a big box and then bring them over to Metropolitan Ministries to restock the shelves on the week after each of these meetings. 

Please help those in need of emergency Gluten Free food by donating these items for a "Gluten Free Everyday Box of Hope":

Gluten Free Cereal
Gluten Free Oatmeal
Gluten Free Canned Fruit
Gluten Free Bread*
Gluten Free Peanut Butter
Gluten Free Jam/Jelly
Gluten Free Soup
Gluten Free Pasta
Gluten Free Tomato Sauce
Gluten Free Canned Vegetables
Gluten Free Rice
Gluten Free Desserts (Gluten Free Cookies, Gluten Free Brownie Mixes, Gluten Free Cake Mixes, etc.)

Thank you for all of your help!

New Year GF News Update - Expos, Chick-Fil-A, Boston Trip & FDA Labeling Continuum

Well, we weren't lying when we predicted that 2012 would begin with a bang!

The world of being on a gluten free lifestyle requirement just keeps getting easier and at the same time more of an amazing journey everyday. It seems that progress moves swiftly with awareness, as we all have been saying all along.

LOCAL MEDIA COVERAGE
Janet Kline and Carol Szer from the Charlotte Celiac Connection invited Nikki Everett, founder of R.O.C.K.(Raising Our Celiac Kids) Charlotte, to join themselves and Pat Fogarty, RD specializing in celiac nutrition, for a taping of their Healthwise show on celiac disease, gluten sensitivity, and gluten intolerance on the CLTBlog for T.V. station WTVI (PBS) in Charlotte, N.C. Please watch for us to post the link on Jan. 31st, 2012.

EXPOS
The Houston Glutenology Expo at the Edwin Hornberger Center in Houston, Texas is only 2 weeks away!
Get your tickets at www.hustonglutenfreeexpo.com while they last...

CHICK-FIL-A
The gluten free community lit up this week with the news that Chick-Fil-A, one of our favorite Southern Fast Food chains, have taken the initiative to not only provide their gluten free clientele an option, but they are pushing the new initiative to address childhood obesity with a kid's meal option which is Grilled Chicken Nuggets, a side of fruit, and low-fat milk, water, or lemonade as the drink choice. This gluten free Grilled Chicken Nuggets menu option can be ordered by adults as well, don't worry that was one of our first questions, or substituted for other chicken menu options.

You can ask for a Backstage Tour Pass to one of the Chick-Fil-A kitchens set up for doing so by contacting
their marketing person, Katherine Strate at KStrate@jacksonspalding.com
For more pictures of our tour, see them on our FB

MORE FDA LABELING
People who are gluten free and have reactions to gluten have complained that medications have consistently been an issue. Even while in the hospital for treatments, they have complained of medical staff not being knowledgeable about medication ingredients or pharmacies where they pick up their prescriptions. So, the FDA labeling issue seems to press forward with slow wheels. However, the light at the end of the tunnel keeps us all pressing forward and the FDA has now granted the NFCA(National Foundation for Celiac Awareness) for a study to be done on their website by taking a survey.

THERE IS NO REASON NOT TO PARTICIPATE AND HELP YOUR FELLOW GLUTEN FREE FAMILY OUT! TAKE THE SURVEY & SAVE A R.O.C.K. KID FROM HAVING A REACTION.

TRIP TO BOSTON
Our good friends at Kettle Cuisine are hosting a really fun and easy contest for a chance to win a weekend getaway in Boston this Spring. Here’s a link where you can learn more (www.facebook.com/kettlecuisine). The Kettle Cuisine team hasalso created this short video to show you how easy it is to win (http://youtu.be/ySqQ4G8_uqY ). All you have to do is take a picture with any one of their soup packages in a fun, interesting or every day location and post it to their facebook page. Then you just get as many of your friends as possible to vote for your picture. The great news is you win an amazing gift pack, just for entering. The contest is only open for a very limited time so check it out as soon as you can and please let us know if you enter.

New Year News

The Happiest of New Years to you & Your Family from R.O.C.K. Charlotte!

You may have thought we had forgotten to post through the Holidays. We didn't forget

but activities took up most of the Holiday Season and now we are facing 2012 before 

we all knew it! Time flies when you're having fun!

2011 brought huge changes for the gluten free communities as awareness grew by leaps and bounds in the last year. However, a new study that was published at celiac.com lets us know that there is lots more track to cover in order to get awareness where it should be. 47% awareness in the general public just isn't enough to make our lives easier. The deer in headlights look you get sometimes while telling someone what celiac disease is or that you can't eat gluten is a far way from ending. So don your awareness attitude and spread the word to see if we can't get more public awareness in 2012!

Be sure to visit our R.O.C.K. Charlotte Event page to see what R.O.C.K. Party is around the bend

on January 14th, 2012.

When Food Bites Back- Problems with Gluten 

When: Sat., Jan. 28, 1:30 p.m. 

Phone: 704-821-7475

Price: FREE 

www.union.lib.nc.us

Saturday, January 28th 1:30 pm Union West Regional Library, Indian Trail, will host a program on gluten, a protein found in certain grains. Guest speaker Nikki Everett is an educator on behalf of the gluten-free community. A previous guest on National Public Radio’s “Charlotte Talks,” she coordinates the Gluten/Allergen-Free Expo and a gluten-free kids’ club in Charlotte. Everett will discuss converting to a gluten-free lifestyle and gluten’s role in gastrointestinal problems, like celiac disease. Sample gluten-free treats: El’s Kitchen Snacks, Udi’s, Against the Grain Gourmet, and Sprue-licious Gluten-free Grocery. FREE, no registration. 123 Unionville-Indian Trail Road, Indian Trail, NC. 704-821-7475

Also, be sure to visit the EXPO section to see where an event may be coming to your town in 2012:

Houston, Texas

St. Petersburg, Florida

Charleston, S.C.

Charlotte, N.C.

Omaha, Nebraska

Raleigh, N.C.

New Orleans, Louisiana
Each event web page will list sponsors, vendors, speakers, and activities

Happy R.O.C.K.'in New Year!