Auburn, WA--Gluten Intolerance Group has launchedGiving Back to Our Gluten-Free Heroes,a campaign to support frontline workers required to be on a gluten-free diet, according to a press release.

Friends and family of the gluten-free community can nominate gluten intolerant essential workers to receive a care package of certified gluten-free food, according to the press release. GIG is accepting nominations through May 31.

More than 75 nominations have already been submitted, and care packages have been sent to doctors, nurses, physicians' assistants, physical therapists, school administrators, maintenance staff, and others, the press release says. Some of the stories GIG has received include:
  • In Colorado, a gluten-intolerant physical therapist working long hours in a COVID-19 rehab facility can’t eat the food the facility provides during her shift due to her dietary restrictions.
  • In West Virginia, a head nurse with celiac disease works on a floor that became a COVID unit after the outbreak began. While the staff in the unit have been provided with meals, they were not gluten-free.
  • In Washington state, a firefighter has had to work overtime because his colleagues may have been exposed to COVID and are in quarantine. The long hours he works has made it a challenge to go out and find gluten-free meals.
  • In Pennsylvania, an RN working 12-hour shifts in a COVID unit in uncomfortable PPE must often refuse meals offered because they contain gluten.
Related: GFCO Certifies 273 Products, Releases COVID-19 Resources Generation GF: Helping Kids Be Kids Community in Spite of COVID-19: How Companies are Giving Back
Cynthia Kupper, CEO of GIG, said in the press release: "We want to recognize the essential workers who are risking their own health and time with family so that the rest of us can stay home and be safe. We have partnered with our gluten-free GFCO certified food manufacturers to send out care packages that contain a variety of gluten-free foods to nourish the body and the spirit for these essential workers and to say thank you for being the heroes they are."