Safe to Eat delivers 1,000 pounds of allergen-free food to Upstate shelters

Safe to Eat completed a back-to-school food drive that sent more than 1,000 pounds of top-nine-allergen- and gluten-free food to four shelters across three Upstate New York counties. The effort is meant to give families facing housing insecurity safer food options as school begins.

Why it matters: - Families dealing with housing insecurity and food allergies often face a second barrier beyond hunger: food that is available may still not be safe to eat. - The drive aimed to help shelters stock allergen-friendly options before the school year, when pressure on families can rise. - Safe to Eat is trying to make allergen-friendly food a routine part of how shelters and aid groups respond to food insecurity.

What happened: - Safe to Eat finished its Back-to-School Food Drive with deliveries of more than 1,000 pounds of allergen-friendly food. - The food went to four homeless and domestic violence shelters across three Upstate New York counties. - The nonprofit was founded by University of Rochester student Devin August Sailer. - Safe to Eat provided the food in time for the start of the new school year.

The details: - The food delivered was free from the top nine major allergens and gluten. - The drive was supported by donations from LesserEvil, Vermont Nut Free Chocolates, Brothers-All-Natural and Price Chopper. - Community members also contributed to the effort. - Sailer said the initiative was meant to help shelters have safe options available for families navigating housing insecurity. - Safe to Eat works with homeless and domestic violence shelters across Upstate New York. - The nonprofit also promotes awareness of food allergy needs within organizations serving vulnerable families. - More than 1.5 million children live in families without a home. - Forty-two percent of those children are under age 6.

Between the lines: - The campaign highlights a gap in emergency food assistance: meeting calories alone does not solve dietary safety needs for families with allergies. - Safe to Eat is positioning allergen-free food as a standard part of anti-hunger work, not a niche add-on. - The organization’s message suggests shelters may need more targeted food inventories as they serve families with complex needs.

What's next: - Safe to Eat plans to keep supplying shelters with top-nine-allergen- and gluten-free foods. - The nonprofit will continue pushing awareness of food allergy needs inside the emergency shelter system. - The organization is also working to keep allergen-friendly food in future hunger-relief conversations.

The bottom line: - Safe to Eat used a back-to-school drive to put more than half a ton of safe food directly into shelters, underscoring how food insecurity and food allergies overlap for vulnerable families. - More information: Safe to Eat