A food pantry in Overland Park, Kansas, has opened its doors and become the first gluten-free, allergy-friendly food pantry in the United States.
Anyone who lives gluten-free, either by choice or because of celiac disease, learns quickly that it’s a more expensive and involved process than just giving up bread. Finding alternatives to many foods normally containing gluten is not always a simple task. If you’re on a budget, it gets even worse.
Gluten-free products, even basics such as flour, can cost four times as much as their gluten-rich counterparts. So what happens to people with low incomes who have been diagnosed with celiac disease or gluten intolerance?
Food pantry offers gluten-free and allergen-free foods at no charge
People facing this dilemma in Overland Park, Kansas and surrounding areas, have the opportunity to utilize a new resource: the ReNewed Health Allergy-Friendly and Gluten-Free Food Pantry. The pantry provides gluten-free and allergen-free foods at no charge to those in need. Co-founder Amy Goode created the pantry, but not for some trendy fad diet reasons. She did it because she realized how much it costs to live well with celiac disease.
Those who utilize the pantry must provide medical proof of celiac disease or a medically-recognized gluten sensitivity as well as a financial need for access to the pantry. The ReNewed pantry is part of the Food Equality Initiative based in Kansas City, a non-profit organized by Goode and another “allergy mom,” Emily Brown.
“Our pantry and non-profit is based in Overland Park, KS,” Goode told PeanutAllergy.com, “but we have people from allover the Kansas City Metro, some driving over half an hour, to receive services.”