Tampa Gluten Free Food Pantry

February Was Not Looking like the Month of Love for the Tampa Gluten Free Food Pantry, but then Hearts Poured Out

2012-03-03T23:04:00.000-08:00

February is the month that we celebrate love, but there was not a lot of love and GF food donations being given to the Tampa Gluten Free Food Pantry at the start of the month. All of the donations from the Gluten Free Holiday Food Drive had long since been given away and eaten by hungry families in need. I sent e-mails to several gluten free companies asking for donations, but they either did not respond or they e-mailed back saying I needed to e-mail a different contact within the company. There were also not a lot of donations being given at the local level and the pantry shelves were looking very bare. I would keep GF food on the shelves by madly searching the internet for printable coupons and then buying GF nonperishable foods on sale at local health food stores and grocery stores.

The end of February finally brought some love and food to the Tampa Gluten Free Food Pantry. We would like to thank the Largo Gluten Free For Life Support Group for bringing nonperishable GF food to their February meeting. This food was a big help! It is amazing what a big difference we can make in the community if we each just give a little. If everyone gives a little GF food, that can add up to a lot of GF food provided for GF families in need.

Gluten Free Friends of Tampa would also like to thank Udi's Gluten Free Foods for showing a lot of love to the Tampa Gluten Free Food Pantry. Udi's donated loaves of GF whole grain bread that we have stored in the freezer at the Metropolitan Ministries Metro Market. Udi's also donated all four types of their delicious gluten free granolas! I know that many families in need will find joy in being able to eat these Udi's food donations. For those of you who are not familiar with Udi's gluten free baked goods, you should definitely check out their website at http://udisglutenfree.com. If you are an Udi's fan already, you should definitely check out their website to see their new gluten free products that just came out such as their new GF frozen pizzas, GF brownie bites, and their GF muffin tops.

When I left Metropolitan Ministries today after restocking the Gluten Free Food Pantry, I was very happy because the GF Food Pantry section looked much better than before! I hope that March brings many GF food donations. My next blog posting will be on plans for the month of March. We are hoping to do a Spring Holiday GF Food Drive and leave blue barrels at several local health food stores. More details coming soon....If anyone wants to donate, these are the items most needed for a Gluten Free "Everyday Box of Hope":

*Gluten Free Cereal
*Gluten Free Oatmeal
*Gluten Free Canned Fruit
*Gluten Free Bread
*Gluten Free Peanut Butter
*Gluten Free Jam/Jelly
*Gluten Free Soup
*Gluten Free Pasta
*Gluten Free Tomato Sauce
*Gluten Free Rice
*Gluten Free Beans
*Gluten Free Desserts (GF cookies, GF brownies, GF cake mix, etc.)

Thank you again to everyone who is willing to help! Please spread the word to let people know about the Tampa Gluten Free Food Pantry!

Many Families Served and Need to Now Restock the Gluten Free Food Pantry

2012-01-22T13:25:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I went to the Tampa Gluten Free Food Pantry at Metropolitan Ministries to drop off a lot of Gluten Free Cookies that have been donated by Enjoy Life Foods. Enjoy Life donated boxes of snickerdoodles, apple cookies, lemon cookies, chocolate chip cookies, brownie cookies, and their new crispy sugar cookies and crispy honey graham cookies. Thank you so much for your donations Enjoy Life Foods!

I discovered that the shelves of the Gluten Free Food Pantry were close to bare. The good news is that many families in need have been able to eat this delicious gluten free food that has been donated! However, it also means that now we need to come together again as a gluten free community to donate and restock the Gluten Free Food Pantry.

If each member of the gluten free community buys a few extra non-perishable gluten free food items each week to donate to the Gluten Free Food Pantry, we should be able to gather enough food again to help! Please bring food donations to either the Gluten Free For Life Largo Support Group Meeting on Saturday January 28th or the Tampa Celiac Support Group Meeting on Saturday February 11th. I will put all of the donations in a big box and then bring them over to Metropolitan Ministries to restock the shelves on the week after each of these meetings.

Please help those in need of emergency Gluten Free food by donating these items for a “Gluten Free Everyday Box of Hope”:

Gluten Free Cereal
Gluten Free Oatmeal
Gluten Free Canned Fruit
Gluten Free Bread*
Gluten Free Peanut Butter
Gluten Free Jam/Jelly
Gluten Free Soup
Gluten Free Pasta
Gluten Free Tomato Sauce
Gluten Free Canned Vegetables
Gluten Free Rice
Gluten Free Desserts (Gluten Free Cookies, Gluten Free Brownie Mixes, Gluten Free Cake Mixes, etc.)

Thank you for all of your help!

Gluten Free Holiday Food Drive Update

2011-12-20T15:15:00.000-08:00

The results are in from the Gluten Free Holiday Food Drive! Thank you to everyone who participated in this Gluten Free Holiday Food Drive by donating gluten free nonperishable items for the new Tampa Gluten Free Food Pantry at Metropolitan Ministries!

According to Metropolitan Ministries, each full food barrel is estimated to be about 125 pounds of food. We donated an equivalent of 3 food barrels or 375 pounds of gluten free food! That is a great start to the Tampa Gluten Free Food Pantry! The shelves are now well stocked and ready for any gluten free families in need who are struggling and need some help. We are hoping that this food will help families in need who need to eat gluten free because of Gluten Intolerance, Celiac Disease, Food allergies, Crohn's Disease, or Autism. If you know of a gluten free family in need, please let them know about the new Tampa Gluten Free Food Pantry!

We would like to again thank Nutrition S'Mart of Wesley Chapel, Nutrition S'Mart of Tampa (Carrollwood), Whole Foods of South Tampa, and Rollin Oats of South Tampa for letting us place food barrels in their stores throughout this Gluten Free Holiday Food Drive. This would not have been possible without their support!

We will be doing another Gluten Free Food Drive in March in partnership with Gluten Free For Life in Largo at their Gluten Free Food Expo. We will need volunteers to help with this as it gets closer. We will also continue to ask for Gluten Free companies to donate gluten free food on a year-round basis, since we know that hunger knows no season. Hunger continues long after the Christmas and Chanukah decorations have been put away.

Please donate a Gluten Free Holiday Box of Hope!

2011-11-26T21:16:00.000-08:00

Metropolitan Ministries and Gluten Free Friends of Tampa are teaming up to create the 1st Tampa Gluten Free Food Pantry! Please help those in need of emergency Gluten Free food by donating these items for a "Gluten Free Holiday Box of Hope" during our 1st Annual Gluten Free Holiday Food Drive:

1 Gluten Free Whole Turkey* !
Gluten Free Mashed Potatoes (1 box) !
Gluten Free Gravy (1 container) !
Gluten Free Rice (1 box or bag) !
Gluten Free Canned Black Beans (2 cans)
Gluten Free Canned Vegetables (2 cans)
Gluten Free Canned Fruit or Jars of Applesauce (2) !
Gluten Free Cranberry Sauce (1 can)
Gluten Free Canned Pumpkin (1 can) !
Gluten Free Bisquick or Gluten Free Multipurpose Flour (1 box) !
Gluten Free Dessert Mix (1 box of Gluten Free Cake Mix or 1 box of Gluten Free Brownie Mix) !
Gluten Free Cookies (1 box) !
Gluten Free Pudding (2 boxes) !
Gluten Free Cereal (1 box)
Gluten Free Oatmeal (1 box)
Gluten Free Bread (1 loaf)*
Gluten Free Peanut Butter (1 jar) !
Gluten Free Jam/Jelly (1 jar) !

*Starred items require freezing and should be brought directly to Metropolitan Ministries and please tell volunteers at Metropolitan Ministries that these donations are for the Gluten Free Food Pantry in the Metro Market

! Items with an exclamation mark are gluten free items we are currently low on at the Tampa Gluten Free Food Pantry

Start of the Tampa Gluten Free Food Pantry at Metropolitan Ministries

2011-11-26T20:52:00.000-08:00

Several members from Gluten Free Friends of Tampa (Melanie, Breanna, and Katrina) gathered GF food donations from the Gluten Free Holiday Food Drive at local grocery stores on Tuesday, November 22nd, and then brought these GF food donations to Metropolitan Ministries. The GF food donations were sorted to confirm they were truly gluten free and then stacked onto shelves within the Metro Market (Emergency Food Market) at Metropolitan Ministries. The shelves are in a separate section against the left wall of the Metro Market.

Gluten Free Friends of Tampa also wants to thank Udi's Gluten Free Baked Goods for their donations of GF white sandwich bread, GF whole grain bread, GF Au Naturel Granola, and GF Original Granola for the startup of the Tampa Gluten Free Food Pantry. Udi's GF bread has been placed in one of the freezers of the Metro Market so that it will last longer. Udi's GF Granolas have been placed on the shelves of the Tampa Gluten Free Food Pantry.

Gluten Free Friends of Tampa also wants to thank Jovial Gluten Free Pasta for donating boxes of GF pasta for the startup of the Tampa Gluten Free Food Pantry. Jovial's Gluten Free Pasta has been placed on the shelves of the Tampa Gluten Free Food Pantry.

Gluten Free Friends of Tampa is thankful to all of the people who have donated nonperishable gluten free food donations into the GF Holiday Food Drive barrels at Nutrition S'Mart of Wesley Chapel, Nutrition S'Mart of Carrollwood, Whole Foods of South Tampa, and Rollin Oats of South Tampa.

We hope that people will continue to donate gluten free food at these locations through the end of December! Thank you for reaching out and helping families in need who can not afford to buy the gluten free foods they need to eat. We hope to help many families in need who have celiac disease, gluten intolerance, wheat allergies, or autism.