Kansas City area readers, I need your help! On Sunday, May 29th, I am headed to Joplin, Missouri with *hopefully* a van full of gluten-free non-perishable food. I would love it if you could contribute.*
After several phone calls, I located Rita, the wonderful lady who recently started a Celiac support group in Joplin. She told me they had been meeting at a church that just happens to have a food bank. I will be delivering directly to that church’s food bank, in hopes that it is the first food bank those with Celiac disease and gluten intolerance turn to when searching for gluten-free essentials.
Rita told me that even for those who still have their homes, this is a really hard time. She can’t buy gluten-free bread anywhere nearby and probably won’t be able to for quite some time. She has no local supplier of gluten-free flours, bread, cereal, etc…right now as their local health food store was closed (update: the local health food store re-opened on the 26th or 27th) and one of their grocery stores is simply gone. One grocery store remains on the far side of town from Rita and has a limited selection of gluten-free items. For those with utility outages, baking isn’t an option either. It is not just those who have lost their homes that will need help in the coming months, but those who have lost their jobs, those who don’t have a car to drive outside of the city to buy gluten-free products. Rita told me it would just be nice to be able to have coffee and a cookie.
Here are a few ideas of items to contribute:
Instant oatmeal (must be labeled gluten-free)
Thai noodle packets (again must be labeled)
gluten-free flours (specifically rice flour, tapioca starch, potato starch, almond meal, all-purpose GF blend)
Crackers, such as Blue Diamond Nut Thins
Bars, such as Larabars,gluten-free granola bars
gluten-free pretzels from Ener-G or Glutino
gluten-free pasta
(Granola has already been covered. The amazing folks at Udi’s Gluten Free have a shipment on the way!)
If you would like to contribute, please drop me an e-mail at johnna@52sweets.com or give me a call at 913.486.0950.
If you are in the St. Louis area, check out this gluten-free food drive at Free Range Cookies!
*I am not seeking monetary donations or items other than gluten-free non-perishables. There are many organizations doing incredible work already and I encourage you to support the cause that most speaks to you. 🙂
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