Any Way To Help Celiacs That Have Been Impacted

[ravenwoodglass]

We have many members in many of the disaster areas that seem to be filling our country right now. There isn't a lot that many of us can do but I know that many of us are doing anything we can to help even if it is just thoughts and prayers.

I know I am not the only one with tears in their eyes with all the tornados and the flooding. The loss of life, ways of life and workplaces is heartbreaking.

Please know if you are affected that thoughts are going your way.

When I hear of so many who have lost so much it just makes the troubles I go through seem not so important.

Does anyone know of anything we can do to help our fellow celiacs that may have been impacted by these disasters? Would the Red Cross or any other organization take shipments of gluten-free food?

[Pamela B.]

We have many members in many of the disaster areas that seem to be filling our country right now. There isn't a lot that many of us can do but I know that many of us are doing anything we can to help even if it is just thoughts and prayers.

I know I am not the only one with tears in their eyes with all the tornados and the flooding. The loss of life, ways of life and workplaces is heartbreaking.

Please know if you are affected that thoughts are going your way.

When I hear of so many who have lost so much it just makes the troubles I go through seem not so important.

Does anyone know of anything we can do to help our fellow celiacs that may have been impacted by these disasters? Would the Red Cross or any other organization take shipments of gluten-free food?

I just came here to ask this exact same question. Unfortunately I haven't found an answer yet.

[kareng]

I guess the good thing about tornadoes, if there is one, is that it is a small area and you can leave. While most of a small city might be affected, you can get food at the store in the next town. I live in Kansas, so I have given this some thought. If my house is destroyed, my emergency food would be, too. But, I can go 5 miles to my parents house or 12 miles to my sister's. They way a tornado works, it probably wouldn't hit all of us. I think it's harder when you are stuck and can't leave or have someone get you.

I have worked out a deal with a local food pantry. I am giving them a few gluten-free foods - pasta, Chex, Crunchmasters crackers, etc. They understand the " specialness" and will keep a separate box. In an emergency, that food would be available, too. I always try to give mainstream gluten-free foods to food pantries. A jar of PB is filling, even if you eat it with a spoon.

Places like the Red Cross and Heart to Heart are good places to donate to. Right now, we are being told that the greatest need in Reading, KS & Joplin, Mo is for bottled water and Gatorade for rescue workers and when they let people into the neighborhoods. Probably also, trash bags to gather belongings if it's safe to do so ( Heart to Heart usually distributes those).

[kareng]

Update:

Asking for heavy duty trash bags, tolietries (Kotex, diapers, TP especially), flash light and batteries as well as water.

also, blood donations but I'm not sure if any of us should be donating blood?

[mushroom]

I am really feeling for the poor folks in Joplin, knowing what they must be going through, rebuilding their lives from scratch. It is so terrifying to be suddenly left homeless, sometimes jobless too Some of our folks cannot even rebuild on their own land because the land itself is unsafe. Life is reduced to the bare essentials. I will make a donation to the Red Cross as to many kind Americans did for us.

[cahill]

also, blood donations but I'm not sure if any of us should be donating blood?

This is a really good question. I dont want to sound silly but Should we give blood.??

[kareng]

This is a really good question. I dont want to sound silly but Should we give blood.??

This is from the Red Cross. We probably can give blood if we don't have one of the other things. I think I wouldn't give blood if you may still have the antibodies floating around.

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[cahill]

This is from the Red Cross. We probably can give blood if we don't have one of the other things. I think I wouldn't give blood if you may still have the antibodies floating around.

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Thanks kareng, sadly I am not able to give because of some current liver issues

[kareng]

Poor Joplin just got another tornado warning. They are trying to evacuate people who were camping by their houses or still working.

[mushroom]

Oh, no. I had heard that there were still possible tornadoes in the forecast

[Jestgar]

Very scary. I give blood all the time, and I hope that anyone eligible will make it a habit all the time, not just during emergencies (although, if you have a lot going on and can't donate regularly, emergencies are worth the extra effort on your part).

[kareng]

We have the edge of that storm. The boys & hub are sitting on the screened porch listening to the thunder. It's so loud, they could hide on the basement with headphones on & hear this thunder!

[mushroom]

I gave blood only once and then they told me not to do it again I fainted every time I stood up for three hours I guess I don't have any to spare. Hub is called on for emergencies - they told him not to give regularly because he is B negative, a common type amongst American Indians apparently, of whom there were quite a few in his Army unit. He always told them, you'd better be nice to me because I'm your blood donor.

[cahill]

I gave blood only once and then they told me not to do it again I fainted every time I stood up for three hours I guess I don't have any to spare. Hub is called on for emergencies - they told him not to give regularly because he is B negative, a common type amongst American Indians apparently, of whom there were quite a few in his Army unit. He always told them, you'd better be nice to me because I'm your blood donor.

I used to give blood on a very regular basis , They would even call me to remind me it was time I am AB they seem to REALLY like my blood

My celiac antibodys are with in limits but my hashimotos antibodys are threw the roof. Add the liver questions to that and I am not sure anyone would want my blood right now

[thleensd]

I didn't see this posted anywhere today... but here is a contact to help Celiacs in the Joplin area.

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[ravenwoodglass]

I didn't see this posted anywhere today... but here is a contact to help Celiacs in the Joplin area.

Open Original Shared Link

Thanks for posting this link. I appretiate it.

[bbuster]

I didn't see this posted anywhere today... but here is a contact to help Celiacs in the Joplin area.

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Yes - this is legit.

I live in Springfield and via Barb, who leads the Celiac Support group in Branson, which overlaps with the Springfield group, I got in touch with Rita in Joplin. Rita leads the Joplin Celiac support group (I think it's new). Anyway, Rita put me in touch with someone in Springfield who was going there today, so I was able to collect a bunch of stuff from myself and and a couple of other people in the area, and get it delivered to where it would be taken care of.

They are mostly asking for non-perishables, but since we are so close, I also baked a bunch of chocolate chip cookies and vacuum-sealed them in 6-packs with a little note of encouragement.

My understanding is that the Red Cross is NOT able to manage any kind of special food needs for people.

[bbuster]

I guess the good thing about tornadoes, if there is one, is that it is a small area and you can leave. While most of a small city might be affected, you can get food at the store in the next town. I live in Kansas, so I have given this some thought. If my house is destroyed, my emergency food would be, too. But, I can go 5 miles to my parents house or 12 miles to my sister's. They way a tornado works, it probably wouldn't hit all of us. I think it's harder when you are stuck and can't leave or have someone get you.

The Joplin tornado was so far out of the realm of normal. It wiped out the two large grocery stores that carried gluten-free foods. They no longer have a health food store. (I'm not sure if this is tornado related ot not). And they had a gluten-free bakery which just closed. So the nearest options might be Springfield (75 miles) or Kansas City (farther). A large number of people lost their vehicles as well as their homes. Even a lot of people who still have a place to live lost power for some time.

[mommida]

I had heard in past situations the CSA, Celiac Sprue Association, has collected food from various gluten free companies and helped feed the people affected.

If there are any food supplies, an educated person would be able to pull out some mainstream foods that are gluten free.

[kareng]

E Joplin animal shelter was in a contest to win $15,000. They really need it now. They need votes to win money.

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[kareng]

just a way to find out what is going on. I have heard from someone that was there recently, some of the groceries are back and have some gluten-free products. But some people didn't have insurance & don't have jobs because of the tornado so they can't afford it.

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[kareng]

E Joplin animal shelter was in a contest to win $15,000. They really need it now. They need votes to win money.

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Forgot to update: got a message that the shelter didn't win that week. Very disappointing until I got to the bottom of the email. They gave them $100,000!

[come dance with me]

We live in an area prone to floods and cyclones. We were hit by Cyclone Yasi earlier this year and Larry passed through a couple of years back. This will be the first year that I'll have to make sure we have a lot of the right type of food whereas in the past tinned spaghetti was enough to see us through. My LO won't eat the Orgran spaghetti and has never liked baked beans either. We were flooded in for about 4 weeks last year with floods not from a cyclone and ran out of things so dry pasta with jars of pasta sauce were brought into the area by emergency workers on boats. I've started now with stocking up on gluten free pasta and pasta sauce. We have gas camping cookers but are often without power for up to a month if we're hit by a cyclone. This year it was only a week but after Larry it was 5 weeks for us and longer for some others. With Tess we were without power and flooded into our street for a little over a month so I lived off dry Weet Bix which we also cannot have anymore.

Restrictions to the diet make it hard in emergency situations but the last thing you want when you have no running water is the gluten symptoms so it's highly important to not eat for the sake of it too. Argh so hard! I stock up by semptember and usually have a supply that will last us a few weeks but I'll have to really become a hoarder this year because emergency supplies won't work for us if it comes to that.