A Kansas City-area food pantry seeks to help low-income people with food allergies.
The ReNewed Health Food Pantry has provided more than 12,000 pounds of allergen-free food since opening last April. Co-Founder Emily Brown says she started the pantry because of her first child's food allergies and because the extra costs of such things as gluten-free bread and dairy-free milk pushed the family budget through the roof.
An advocacy group estimates about 15 million people in the U.S. have food allergies, and recent research from Northwestern Medical School shows that low-income families with children who have food allergies spend more than twice as much time on hospital visits.
Another similar pantry's scheduled to open later this summer, and a gluten-free, allergen-free food pantry also opened earlier this year outside Philadelphia.
