Good Morning!
Just to keep you a bit up to date, we have had several families who were affected by the tornado come by for gluten free food. I am really realizing the scope of how this disease runs in families. I had always hear it was about 10-15 percent of family members with Celiacs but the majority of the people that I have given out food to on behalf of the generous folks that have donated gluten free food to Joplin have a parent and at least one child and in one case three children and a parent who are Celiacs or gluten intolerant. I am wondering what is the experience of the folks who are reading this blog? Are you seeing a single person with Celiacs or are you seeing that several people in the family have it?
I have not been in to the Mission Joplin yet this week but will get food to them in the next couple of days.
A friend and I went to coffee yesterday with a couple other friends and we drove down 26th street (along the path of the tornado). The desolation is still massive of course, but you see where a tremendous amount of work has been done to clear the debris. But it is so very hard to see how they could possibly meet the deadline. Our city manager said a couple of days ago on the 1 month anniversary of the storm, that 25% of the debris had been removed. We must have it removed by August 7th. That is not much time for all this "huge" mess that just goes on and on for miles.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Friday, June 24, 2011
I also stopped at a Lutheran Church in the south end of Joplin that I had passed many times, noticing that they were doing quite a few things for the community. They are feeding people, they had truckloads of mattresses they were giving to people whose homes and possessions were demolished and they have a medical clinic with nurses and doctors to treat people who were hurt in the tornado and also those who get hurt while working in the Tornado ravished areas. They were very nice when I mentioned that we had a Celiac Support group and we had gluten free food to donate if they needed it. I had put a small box of mixed items in my car in case there was anyone there that needed it. They also all knew what I was talking about as it turns out their pastor is Celiac. He has been having a a difficult time as he is working such long hours ministering to tornado victims and cannot eat most of the food that is prepared for workers and victims. I gave them what i had with me and will take some more up there soon. They said they have had several asking for gluten free food. I was very happy to be able to get the donations to folks who are in need because of this devastating tornado.
Well this morning I set out with some boxes of a variety of gluten free food in my car to restock the gf food pantry at Mission Joplin (a ministry of forest Park Baptist Church)I was surprised to find that they had moved it to a different area. I spoke to several of the volunteers there and they are all gluten free savvy and definitely are only giving that food to those people that need gluten free. They are getting coolers in the room where our food is and so if we need to keep something cooler we would be able to store that there. I was also surprised to see that about half the food had been used. They said they have had several families who have needed gluten free. So we filled in the gaps with a variety of foods that generous people and groups had sent.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Tomorrow I am expecting two Celiac ladies to come by for food. And if i can get it all scheduled in I will make sure the gluten free shelves at the Mission Joplin are stocked. I am feeling better but still limping and walking with a cane but I know of two other churches that are doing a big work to folks in the community and I will try to get to those and see if they have had requests for gluten free food. Mike (my husband) made me some cards today so I can leave them a few of those to give to people they may come across that will need gluten free food. The FEMA trailers and modular homes are beginning to come in so I will do some phone work to investigate that avenue to reach the gluten intolerant next week.
As some of you know Mike's place of work was lost in the storm and they are not rebuilding at least right away but he will be starting a temporary job related to tornado recovery so he will have the car after next week. I will have to do more by phone. And we have a couple of our people in our Celiac support group who have offered to help if I need it. I will probably need it. For now our supplies are ok but I will put the word out on this blog if we have needs that can't be met with what we have or what is still coming in. We got some boxes of food today from the gluten intolerant support group in SE Iowa. We have had several support groups that have sent food...SanDiego, Ca, Ohio, and Alabama. Also CSA sent a box or two and CDFA sent food. So sorry if I did not mention your group I am just typing this off the top of my head and my memory is not the greatest. These of course are in addition to a number of vendors and several individuals. I should not have begun naming folks without my lists...I am going to get myself in trouble. :~ good night all
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Good afternoon! It's been awhile since I have posted.While we have given out many boxes of food on behalf of the Celiac community it has been quiet around here much of this week so far. We have contacted all the gluten intolerant people we know of and have given food to many of them. We are still convinced that there are more Gluten intolerant folks than we have been able to find. It is quite challenging to figure out how to reach the Celiacs who have no home or car or communications. It's really just about impossible. We continue to put the word out there in various places and feel that eventually all who need this food will find us or we will find them.
I do have a couple of ideas of places to contact among the groups who are serving people that I have just learned of. Will contact them this afternoon or tomorrow. I am without a car today and feel that it would be best if I went to a couple of these places...so they will wait for tomorrow.
As I have said a number of times....the situation here will not resolve in a short time. They have been making a lot of progress with clean up. But there is very long way to go.
It is probably a very good thing that things have been slow here at GF Food Pantry South :) as I have had a particularly bad few days and could barely walk yesterday.(Doing better today) Because my Celiacs was not diagnosed in a timely manner I developed several other auto immune diseases and I think the lupus has been flaring this week.Lots of pain in joints and muscles and deep exhaustion. But as I say, today things seem to be improving. I will try to keep you updated .
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)