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#FAAW, Austin Community Foundation, Dee Valdez, Food Allergy, Food Allergy Awareness Week, Food Allergy-Friendly Food Pantry, food pantry, Gluten-free diet, Living Without, Louise Walker Memorial Fund, Sun Connor, sun in austin
I came across an article called “Special Diet Food Banks” from Living Without Magazine a couple of years ago. I read about a young girl with Celiac disease having to eat the gluten-containing macaroni and cheese from the food bank, even though it would cause her a great deal of agony. I’ve never been able to get that article out of my head. It made me think about just how many families have issues securing food and have life threatening food allergies. I decided to reach out to Dee Valdez for inspiration. Here are some shocking statistics I learned:
- In the United States, Texas is the second state with the most food insecurities. Suffering from food insecurity simply means that you have such limited resources when it comes to obtaining food that your children and family are forced to eat a reduced quality of food. It is estimated that 17.1 percent of the population of Texas suffers from food insecurities.
- In the state of Texas, approximately 24.3 percent of the children population is living in poverty. This means that one in every four children in the state of Texas is suffering from food insecurities.
- Almost have of the families who suffer from food insecurities are forced to choose all the time between food and other basic needed items. Approximately 48 percent of these families have to choose between paying for their light bill, their heat bill, or food. Approximately 47 percent are being forced to choose between paying their rent or buying food. Approximately 39 percent are being forced to choose between buying gas for their vehicles or buying food.
In 2007, I decided to create the Louise Walker Memorial Fund in honor of my grandmother. In 2010, I changed the mission of my fund to focus its energies on food allergy awareness programs and organizations. Thanks to the assistance of Capital Area Food Bank, Natural Grocers and Cameron Road Church of Christ (among other local churches) I’ve also been able to create a food pantry that’s food allergy friendly. It’s still growing and being developed, but it’s definitely making progress! Stay tuned…by following this blog and following me on twitter!
Related articles
- Food Allergy Awareness Week is May 12-18th! (suninaustin.com)
- 2013-05-10 Fabulous Friday Food Allergy Awareness Week (survivingthefoodallergyapocalypse.wordpress.com)
- Food Allergy Awareness Week 2013 (ctworkingmoms.com)
- FARE Weighs In On Food Allergy Awareness Week (thefoodallergymom.wordpress.com)
sun in austin 
Thanks for linking back to my FAAW post on CTWorkingMoms. Reading your post just blew my mind. It’s such a struggle to find food that is safe for my peanut-anaphylactic son, I’ve often felt lucky that he doesn’t have allergies to more foods. Now I will consider us even luckier that we have the money to buy safe food when so many other parents don’t have that option. While Connecticut has one of the highest income areas in the US, we also have some of the lowest, so this is an important issue here. I’m going to share your post with some of my FA groups, especially the local ones, and see what I can find out about the food pantry issue around here. Thank you so much for alerting me to this issue.
I was happy to share your post! I can remember early on purchasing foods for my son and wondering how and if others were able to provide the same for their children. We’re also grateful to be able to provide safe meals, but discerning to know others aren’t able to. Thanks again for passing along! It’s definitely something worth looking into as the number of people with food allergies has increased.
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Also, about the Mac girl, it didn’t just cause her agony if she had celiac. From ym understanding, it also damaged her organs & could giver her cancer, not just pain, migraines, & gastric issues.