Need Advice for National Peanut Butter and Jelly Food Drive

[smartin]

Hello all,

I work for an organization that is going to be running a national campaign to collect peanut butter and jelly for a hunger campaign in April. We have hyperfocused this campaign to try and involve as many teens as possible. We are looking to make this the largest PB+J food drive ever.

To do this safely, we need to figure out the ways in which to operate this in a safe way as the campaign would ideally be run in high traffic areas (i.e.- schools, places of worship, grocery stores etc...) If any of you have ideas, resources or advice on how to run the campaign without putting students in danger.

What we're already planning to do:

■Encourage those with nut-free schools to host a drive at a local grocery store, church, temple etc.
■All donated items will need to be 100% sealed
■Encouraging those who have an allergy to participate by donating jelly

Any other ideas or advice would be greatly appreciated, please feel free to email me.

Best,
Saige

[CMdeux]

Maybe encouraging allergic students or peanut free buildings to focus on peanut-butter substitutes?

Surely there are families in need who also have peanut-allergic children, yes?    This gives allergic students and their families a way to participate in spirit as well as in fact.

  Something to be aware of is that many teens probably would feel quite disconnected emotionally from such efforts.  Think about it-- while admirable, your goal is, in no uncertain terms, to encourage the donation and distribution of a substance that alters daily life in a profound way for those allergic teens.   I mention this only so that you are aware of what you're asking of these teens-- they have a viscerally negative reaction to peanut butter which transcends actual safety concerns.   I'm fairly certain that such a drive would feel hurtful for my 13yo-- it would feel like a reminder of all the ways that she is excluded from participating with her peers.  Let's be perfectly honest here-- you're not going to find too many allergic families who are HAPPY to have more peanut in the world, regardless of the reason.  That's not really "selfish" so much as it reflects the reality of a family that has nearly lost a child and lives in daily fear of death from something so stupid as an accidental, and tiny, exposure.

Ambivalence is likely to be the best you can hope for there, unless you can encourage this particular population toward participation that doesn't feel self-harming or insensitive.

If the point is FEEDING people with food insecurity, there are ways to do that which are inclusive. (Encouraging equivalent non-allergen spreads so that a variety of things are donated, and if allergic students are participating in this particular community service activity, finding ways to keep them safe, and finally, not excluding allergic teens from participating in this kind of service).

  On the other hand, if it's about peanut butter and jelly, well, then allergic teens may (correctly?) interpret that the food is, as usual, far more important than they themselves-- or hungry families-- are.

One concern-- if this is intended for high-traffic areas, understand that while few middle and high schools are "peanut-free" zones, breakage of glass jars, spills, etc. take on a VERY ominous quality in that setting for allergic students.   They and their parents may quite rightly feel uncomfortable about having a large quantity of glass-jarred peanut butter present in a busy hallway.



 

[CMdeux]

Some shelf-stable peanut butter alternatives that are widely available throughout North America:

Soybutter
Sunbutter (sunflower seed)
Pumpkin seed butter


There are also other nut butters such as Nutella, cashew/almond butters, and the like-- but many peanut allergic students also have tree nut allergies.

The USDA lunch program, by the way, considers Soybutter and Sunbutter to be nutritionally equivalent to peanut butter. 

Most food pantries can really use help in providing allergy-friendly food-- it tends to be considerably more expensive, and rarely donated in bulk.

I strongly encourage you to make it a point to specifically identify this as a need that allergic families can help you fill.   

[504 Mom]

I`m sorry.  I don`t mean to be rude, but to me this is akin to having a gun drive.  My teenage child is allergic to peanuts.  NONE of her friends would participate in such a drive.  With all the day cares, camps, etc. going peanut free, I can`t fathom why you would have a drive for something that so many kid friendly organizations are avoiding.  My child worked at a camp that had "no peanut" signs everywhere.  She has been on two school retreats held at two different camps, that were also peanut free. 

Did you know that someone can have their first anaphylactic reaction to peanuts at any age?  You could give these people their peanut butter sandwich and cause a death.

This just doesn`t make sense to me.  Twenty years ago, maybe.  Today, no.   To me, it is a huge step backwards.  I`d go with soy butter.

I am sure your intentions are good, but I honestly can`t figure out why you are posting here.  I don`t think you are going to find many on this board who will want to encourage a drive for a food that 1% of the population is deathly allergic to.

[Macabre]

I actually think it's a good idea and thoughtful to post here.  I think it's quite creative to get advice from folks whose life would be negatively impacted by this activity.

But the gun analogy--bang on imho. 

We donate Sunbutter.  And when we buy it for our house or buy Nutella (it's made in a peanut free facility), we wipe the jar down with a Clorox wipe before we put it in the cart and again before we put it away in our pantry. The child of a mom here had an anaphylactic reaction when he ate Sunbutter, and he was not allergic to it.  It was from peanut on the jar--because it was on the shelf next to PB.

I've got to say, reading about a "largest peanut butter drive ever" makes me really, really nervous.

I actually think DS' high school peers would jump on something like this, but if it comes to my son's school, I will fight it. The amount of cross contamination in the school because people are bringing in jars of PB--it's very scary.  Finally in high school we don't have to worry about a lot of pb, but this--this has nightmare written all over it.

I'm thinking there are more nutritious food collection options.  PB (and Sunbutter and Nutella) are not the best nutrional foods for children.  Even though we can have them, they are a "sometimes food," as Cookie Monster would say.  Shelfstable yes, but we don't indulge very often.

I hope your organization would rethink this. It's late, I know.  I work for a nonprofit--I get that you've planned this for 6-9 months. But if you can broaden your focus, it would safer for the children dealing with peanut allergy--for whom school is often already a scary place at times (think about all the food at Valentine's Day, end of school celebrations, etc.)

[504 Mom]

Fortunately, our school would never allow it, as it would pose a risk to kids who are contact sensitive.  With the incidence of peanut allergy being what it is, you may have a hard time getting schools to go along with this.  After all, it is their job to keep all children safe, and this would accomplish the opposite.

[Janelle205]

Something else to consider:

I know that a PB & J drive has a 'ring' to it that other options do not.  And I think that collecting safe substitutes would be great - though we are lucky that it isn't an issue, I have thought many times that if something was to happen and DH and I needed to go to a food bank, I probably would not be able to feed myself.  A lot of times, kids with food insecurity also have to fix food for themselves - the parents are working or are exhausted from working multiple jobs.  And while they can fix PB & J themselves, it isn't a meal on it's own - it requires bread or tortillas or pitas or something to put it on.  What we try to get here when we donate to food banks is the shelf stable microwave meals.  The kids can fix them on their own, and it is a whole 'dish' - it doesn't require you to buy anything else to make it.

[PurpleCat]

Wow!  I am impressed that you have asked for opinions from our group.

My DD is 13.  She just had anaphylaxis a few weeks ago to sesame.  She has multiple food allergies.  We have learned first hand that she is contact sensitive to peanuts. 

Food drives are done in her school for local food pantries.  They are limited to collection boxes in the lobby of the school and it is asked that all items arrive in plastic grocery store bags and that the filled bags are placed in the boxes.  When my DD brings her donation in, one of her friends puts her bag in the box for her.

There are many items in the box she may be allergic too.  But these campaigns do not request her specific allergens and she is careful and not offended. 

The only food drive I remember that was specific was a drive for canned soups.

A specific Peanut Butter and Jelly Campaign does request one of her most significant allergens.  That would be offensive to both her as the child with the class 6 allergy to peanuts and to me, her parent.....who works to constantly keep her safe.  She would not be interested in "donating jelly" just to say she participated.  That would not make her feel good about the campaign.  She would even worry about the kids receiving the peanut butter....what if they are allergic and do not know because they haven't had it before?  I would worry about the bullies and trouble makers....there are always some.....who might find it fun to be "creative" with a box filled with peanut butter and jelly.

Our schools have been very supportive of all the children with allergies....I'm guessing they would not participate in this drive.

I would suggest keeping it out of the schools.

[SilverLining]

I'm also impressed that you came here to ask opinions on how to keep kids safe.   

The advice may not be exactly what you were looking for, but I hope you follow through on some of it.  And I have one more piece of advice.  If you do include pb substitutes (like sunbutter or peabutter) make sure you keep them separate from the pb.  MC explained why....people can have reactions from what's on the outside of the jar.

[lakeswimr]

I am also impressed that you came here and asked.  My son's schools have had food drives every year.  I am sure that pb gets sent in along with lots of other foods and I haven't worried about it one little bit.  I do not consider the jars of pb that were sent in to have been a danger to DS.  The pb isn't going to get into him or on him from inside a jar.  I can understand thinking about glass jars breaking and making a mess but there are already pb and other allergen-eating children all over the lunch room ever day who drop and spill stuff and with the school's safety accommodations DS is safe and fine eating there.  I just don't think this is as big of a deal as some here, too.  That said, I can't get behind the goal of making your drive the biggest ever pb and j drive.  I would be happy if pb disappeared off the face of the earth I think.  Well, having less pb around would be nice.  Having MORE pb around is worrisome.  So, I won't actively campaign against peanuts but they aren't something I want to see MORE of around my child.  I wonder if you work for the peanut industry.  If so that would explain the focus of your campaign.  If so I do not think it is appropriate to do what amounts to a campaign to sell your ow product in public schools.  (shrug)  If not, then I recommend expanding the focus beyond just pb and j.  Why not?  Why not make it the biggest FOOD donation campaign ever instead of just biggest pb and j campaign?  I am sure people who need the food would love to have a variety of food and not just pb and j. 

Again, it was very nice of you to come ask us our opinions.  Best wishes.

[Janelle205]

  I am sure people who need the food would love to have a variety of food and not just pb and j. 

Along these same lines, a lot of the people who are needing assistance from the food bank probably get WIC assistance as well, which would provide them with PB - so they may like something else.

[Macabre]

That's a great point Janelle. 

Here's why I am concerned:  my high school age son is allergic to peanuts (sunbutter and Nutella are a sometimes food; PB is a never food, lol).  He has had anaphylaxis twice at school--once in elementary and once in middle school and another non-anaphylactic (perhaps) reaction in elementary school.  Did he ingest peanuts? Not that he would have noticed.  He had accidental ingestion by touching surfaces that had peanut protein on them and then eating or putting his fingers in his mouth.

The perhaps-anaphylactic reaction occurred when he was in third grade after lunch. The middle school reaction occurred during lunch after he went to the restroom and pushed open the bathroom door after washing his hands. It was the closest door to the bathroom. He then went and finished eating his lunch, putting the apparent peanut protein in his mouth. He got an epi for this reaction. An ambulance was called, and he was safe--after spending the rest of the day in the ER.  We paid the ambulance and hospital and doctors' charges btw. And the cost of the new EpiPen. The school, of course did not.

The third one was in elementary school.  He was playing indoor hockey. We can only surmise that there was peanut protein on the stick (and he was horrible about keeping his hands off his face and away from his mouth. He developed symptoms that didn't resolve but started to cascade.  Epi, hospital.  That evening he had a biphasic reaction. So again, Epi, ambulance, ER for four hours.  We unfortunately didn't get a frequent flyer discount. 

There have been countless times hives have developed from contact.  I remember once at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg dealing with hives that sprang up after touching a rail. They were fortunately minimal and were cleared up with a baby wipe or Clorox wipe and some benadryl. 

So here's why I am concerned. I don't worry that the peanut butter will jump out of hte jars and grab him.  BUT--most high school kids will NOT be bringing it in bags. They'll be bringing a single jar in their backpacks and will place the jar in a box.  Make no mistake--the outside of the jar will be host to peanut protein.  So it will be on the fingers of many of the students which then are used to open doors, push the button on the coffee machines (yes, my son's school has them, lol) and other things. 

And peanut protein is nothing if not persistent. This very recent study documents it stays on a surface that is not cleaned at least 120 days (and that was the outer scope of the study. We can assume it stays on much longer.)  http://www.aacijournal.com/content/pdf/1710-1492-9-7.pdf

It is cleaned off effectively with a Clorox wipe. Not as easily with dishsoap and water.  Only 50% is removed with hand sanitizer. 

So the more peanut protein is introduced to the surfaces in a school, the more peanut protein will linger.  And it is a lasting danger.

[Macabre]

I have to ask, being in a nonprofit myself: have you done a needs assessment for this project before planning it? Is there a true need for this much pb to be donated to food banks or wherever you plan to take it? I've been in meetings where visionary-let-someone-else-handle-the-details colleague has suggested a grandiose solution to a problem without thinking criticlly about the problem--and about the proposed solution.

She didn't look at the need or at data to support the need for or likely outcome of her suggestion. She just thought it sounded like a great idea.  Though this colleague does have great ideas, what she proposed in this instance was not.  And it could have sidetracked our department from our other goals.  It sounded like it would make a huge impact and it sounded nice.  But it wasn't realistic and detracted from our mission.


So--is there a true need for this much PB? Specifically?  Or is there a need for a shelf-stable nutritious food that provides protein and is easily used?

[lakeswimr]

Macabre,

I'm very sorry your child had contact ana in school 3 times.  That's really terrible.

In my child's case there are tons of kids eating pb and j every day at his school and eating all sorts of his allergens each snack and lunch.  His class wipes/washes after eating but the rest of the school doesn't.   Before I worried about jars of pb or other allergens collected in a food drive, I'd be thinking about the residue from what is openly eaten at school.  That is going to be the source of much more potential residue than sealed containers of foods.  So, in our case I see food drives as a non-issue regarding safety.  And thankfully so far DS's accommodations have worked. He has had ana from contact as recently a year and a half ago but that was not at school.  The accommodations they have at school seem to be enough. 

If I had had your experiences I would be much more stressed about school things. 

[Macabre]

Thanks. In high school (finally!!) I don't really worry about PB consumed in the lunch room, because it isn't much.

But there still is tons of food consumed in the classroom--more than middle school actually. But it's not PBJ sandwiches. They've aged out of it as a staple.