K12Allergies, a local food allergy education and awareness nonprofit, is hosting an allergy-friendly food drive for children with food allergies to combat rising levels of food insecurity. This drive will run from February 6 to March 1, 2023, and all proceeds will be donated to the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank. They will be collecting donations at the Fayetteville Public Library Preschool Desk. Items needed include gluten-free goods (pasta, flour, bread, oatmeal), shelf-stable dairy-free milk, canned goods, rice (brown & white), nut-free snacks, and any other goods without a single or multiple top 9 allergens (egg, milk, tree nut, peanut, shellfish, soybean, sesame, wheat, and fish).

This effort is conducted through the nonprofit organization K12Allergies, which Haas Hall Junior Hemali Gauri created during the initial COVID-19 outbreak of 2020. “Experiencing food allergies without a community was extremely tough while I was younger,” she describes. K12Allergies is an online supportive community for parents of food allergy children. There are dozens of past parent’s experiences, tips, and resources on K12Allergies.com, which are searchable through allergen, reaction, or treatment. K12Allergies also aims to spread awareness about food allergies on social media and in NWA. K12Allergies has helped with the Be(A)ware Food Allergy Friendly Halloween event that is hosted at the Fayetteville Public Library every year, coordinated with local allergists at the Hedberg Clinic, and worked with elementary schools in the area to provide food allergy awareness talks.

Food allergies impact around 1 in 13 children throughout the United States (Gupta RS 2018). And because allergy-friendly food is a greater financial burden, households impacted by food allergies are twice as likely to fall into food insecurity (Root Cause Coalition). This food drive intends to tackle these rising food insecurity rates among those with allergies through Northwest Arkansas.

The cause of food allergies is unknown, but allergies cause a huge impact on households once children are diagnosed. Parents are forced to check every nutrition label before they buy food, kids are required to carry Epinephrine in case of a life-threatening reaction anaphylaxis, and educators must be aware of a reaction occurring at any time.

Citizens can assist the rising number of food allergy parents in Northwest Arkansas by donating items to this drive anytime from now until March 1st at the Fayetteville Public Library Preschool desk area. Be sure to check the items needed and labels of these goods before buying them to make sure they don’t contain a few top allergens (egg, milk, wheat, peanut, tree nut, shellfish, soybean, sesame, or fish). For more information, please visit K12Allergies.com/Drive or reach out to contact@k12allergies.com. Thank you.