March 11, 2026, 4:55 a.m. ET
- Low-income families with food allergies face challenges when seeking assistance from food pantries.
- Allergen-friendly foods are more expensive and less frequently donated to food banks.
- Food pantries struggle to stock specialized items and often refer families to other organizations.
- Some pantries provide gift cards to grocery stores when they cannot meet specific dietary needs.
Low-income families with food allergies and dietary restrictions can find it difficult to get food assistance at community food banks and pantries.
Families with food allergies spend more money on groceries than families without, because allergen-friendly products like lactose-free milk or gluten-free bread are more expensive. The 10 most common food allergies are eggs, fish, milk, peanuts, sesame, shellfish, soy, tree nuts, wheat, and corn.
Food allergies are more common than most people realize. In Massachusetts, over 713,000 people are recorded to have food allergies by the Food Allergy Research and Education, and over 101,000 of those people are children between the ages of zero and 18 years old. Nearly 180,000 children are facing hunger in Massachusetts, according to the non-profit organization Feeding America.
How two Gardner area food pantries handle food allergies
Miranda Jennings, Winchendon CAC executive director, said it is difficult for them to keep a stock of allergen-friendly food items as they are already struggling to keep the shelves stocked with any food at all.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have an allergen-friendly food pantry, but we always try our best to get our clients what they need,” she said. “Through funds from the United Way and other grants, we have been able to give out gift cards to Market Basket so our clients can buy what they need if we don’t have it at the pantry.”
Jennings said that because much of their food supply is donated, there isn’t much control over what is available to put on the shelves. Like the Winchendon CAC, other local food pantries are trying their best to help all families put food on the table.
In the greater Gardner area alone, there are seven food pantries, and they stock their shelves by collecting donations from food drives and by picking up food from the Worcester Food Bank. There are also food pantries in the neighboring communities of Athol, Fitchburg, and Leominster.
Ginny’s Helping Hands in Leominster is one of the largest food pantries in the North Central region, serving around 53,000 people a year facing food insecurity. The non-profit has partnered with Hannaford, Target, BJ’s, and Walmart, in addition to receiving food from the Worcester Food Bank, but they still can’t promise accommodations for families with food restrictions. On their website, they stated, “We do our best to accommodate individual needs, but we cannot promise to provide specific groceries on specific days.”
Mayra Diaz, the manager of operations at Ginny’s Helping Hands, said most of the time, they have to refer the families to other local food pantries because they don’t have allergen-friendly foods. She said they tell families to check with other food pantries to see if they have anything available for them to eat.
“We sometimes have vegetarian food options, but that’s rare. Every family gets something from us, and they aren’t leaving empty-handed, so we try our best to find something they can have,” she said. “We try to accommodate as best as we can, but it’s hard because we don’t have these items all the time.”
