News & Updates
See what our community is making possible.
Follow The Celiac Shelf's latest food drives, partnerships, volunteer efforts, educational initiatives, milestones, and community stories.
Upcoming
November 26, 2026
Join The Celiac Shelf at the New Rochelle Turkey Trot this Thanksgiving! Run or walk with us as we kick off the holiday morning together — 5K Run/Walk, Kid's Mile, and Tot Trot options available. Register and join Team The Celiac Shelf to trot with us.
Announcement
Recent drives
July 10–13, 2026
We accepted all gluten-free, non-perishable food donations across four days of collection.
June 12–14, 2026
A three-day collection focused on shelf-stable milks, nut butters, canned beans, rice and gluten-free pasta, condiments, flour, and protein bars.
April 18, 2026
A day of collection outside The Grape Exchange in New Rochelle, NY, where the community met our volunteers and dropped off gluten-free items.
April 10–13, 2026
Four days of collection for rice, beans, pasta, shelf-stable milks, nut butters, tuna, dried fruit, cereal, and condiments.
Understanding the need is part of changing it.
Shelf Awareness shares facts and information about celiac disease, medically necessary gluten-free diets, food insecurity, gluten-free food access, and ways communities can make food assistance more inclusive.
Shelf Awareness
Celiac disease is an autoimmune condition, not an allergy or a preference. When someone with celiac eats gluten, their immune system attacks the lining of their own small intestine. About 1% of people worldwide have it, including roughly 2 million people in the United States, and the only treatment is a strict, lifelong gluten-free diet. There is no medication.
Source: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), National Institutes of Health
Shelf Awareness
Researchers at Columbia University's Celiac Disease Center compared a standard grocery basket across five US regions and found gluten-free products cost 183% more than their wheat-based equivalents. Staples were worse: gluten-free bread cost 229% more and pasta 227% more. Even mass-market brands making gluten-free versions of their own products charged 139% more.
Source: Lee AR, Wolf RL, Lebwohl B, Ciaccio EJ, Green PHR. "Persistent Economic Burden of the Gluten Free Diet." Nutrients, 2019;11(2):399.
Shelf Awareness
Cost is only half the barrier. The same study found the average traditional grocery store stocked just 58% of a standard gluten-free basket, and overall availability fell over the previous decade, from 69% in 2006 to 59% in 2016. Safe food is not only more expensive, it is harder to find, and hardest in the everyday stores families actually shop.
Source: Lee AR et al., Nutrients, 2019;11(2):399.
