Encore episode! Discover Nick’s Snack Pack, bringing gluten-free joy to kids with Celiac Disease on Celiac World News. Learn more now!
Delicious and Safe Snacks for Kids with Celiac Disease
Discover the inspiring journey of Jennifer Adolfie, founder of Nick’s Snack Pack, a non-profit dedicated to providing Certified Gluten-Free snacks to children with Celiac Disease. Jennifer’s motivation stems from her son Nick’s own diagnosis at a young age, driving her to create a positive impact in the lives of those facing similar challenges.
Through Nick’s Snack Pack, Jennifer not only offers essential gluten-free snacks, but also brings joy and positivity to children in need. Her story showcases the power of resilience, love, and positive initiatives, inspiring others to make a difference in the lives of those around them. Learn more about Nick’s Snack Pack and the incredible work they do in empowering lives and spreading Gluten-Free Joy.
Dishing up Delight: Nick’s Snack Pack Delivers Gluten-Free Goodness for Kids with Celiac Disease!
Hi everyone I’m Nicole Huckaby and welcome to conversations with Nicole in this episode of conversations with Nicole we feature Jennifer adaly of Nick’s snack pack this nonprofit gives boxes of certified gluten-free snacks to kids with celiac disease it’s inspired by Jennifer’s son Nick who was diagnosed with celiac disease when he turned three.
Years old since then Jennifer has navigated the gluten-free lifestyle and started Nick snack pack as a way to put a positive spin on her son’s diagnosis I hope you enjoy our conversation and of course to learn more about NX snackpack just visit Nix snackpack tocom let’s get started hi everyone welcome to.
Conversations with Nicole I am delighted to have as my guest today Jennifer adaly she is the founder of Nick’s Snack Pack Jennifer thank you so much for being my guest today thank you for having me I’m excited to learn more about Nick’s Snack Pack I shared with my viewers earlier a little bit about how it got started but it’s all about your son so talk me.
Through the process of how Nick snackpack came about yeah well my son Nick he was diagnosed with celiac disease when he turned 3 years old and as you can imagine uh that’s something you never want to hear as a parent that your child was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease so um for anyone who doesn’t know what.
Celiac disease is um it’s a autoimmune disorder where the ingestion of gluten causes the body to attack the small intestine uh disorder um but it can be managed by a strict gluten-free diet and so for the past four years we’ve been navigating the strict gluten-free diet lifestyle and he’s done great he is thriving and.
Happy and healthy and we’re so lucky um but you know it does come with its challenges um you know he’s s years old now and it’s a time where he’s developing so much socially and there’s a lot of social food related situations that he’s been running into with school and friends houses and birthday parties um so we just had this idea P.
This past July um to try to put a positive spin on his diagnosis and help other children who have celiac disease that’s the where Nick’s neack pack came from right yeah yeah so what Nick’s neack pack is um we’re a nonprofit corporation that sends boxes full of certified gluten-free snacks to other.
Children who have been diagnosed with celiac disease um I have a box actually right here oh great perfect yeah and um they’re filled with you know all different snacks so chips crackers cookies bars and they’re all certified gluten-free um we mail these at no cost for the recipient and we’re mailing all across the country um and our main goal.
With Nick snackpack is just bring joy to other children who have S disease just like Nick I love that I I love when you can take a situation that seems uh difficult dire and and not knowing what to do and you put the positive spin on it I would like to go back just for a second and talk a little bit more about celiac disease and why it is um.
Something that can be a serious health issue for children if it isn’t diagnosed properly and isn’t um maintain so that they get the proper nutrition it really has to do with nutrition as they are growing boys and girls at an early age getting diagnosed with this do you mind sharing a little bit more about the disease and why it’s important that.
You’re maintaining good health and getting n proper nutrition which is where Nick’s snack pack does help with that yeah of course so like you said it is very serious um so when the body attacks the small intestine it attacks the Villi which are are these little finger like um little finger like substance in your uh intestines and.
That’s what absorbs nutrients so like you said people who have celiac disease who are eating gluten it’s wearing down their Villi and they aren’t able to absorb nutrients like everyone else so it leads to very serious complications and even increases the risk of cancer if it goes UND diagnosed for a long long period of time and celiac disease is.
Actually one of the most and it’s just um there’s so many different symptoms and it really can vary based on your age even what your symptoms could be like um so doctors a lot of times don’t even know to test for celiac disease so um we’re seeing it more often and I think that’s a a good thing that we’re trying to spread awareness it.
Seems like there’s a lot more organizations out there trying to spread awareness so that we can help not only children but adults who have lived with this for a long time just don’t realize they have it help them get diagnosed and get on the right track so you mentioned symptoms what were Nick’s symptoms what led you to say something’s not right we.
Need to have him tested or we need more medical help walk me through what happened there yeah so getting him officially diagnosed and figuring out what was going on was very difficult someone once uh compared it to having a bunch of puzzle pieces and not knowing mean if all these pieces were even a part of the same puzzle um that’s how I.
Felt it was all of these different symptoms that we didn’t know were all related to celiac disease because they showed up between year 2 and three all on their own so the first symptoms were um he started to get anemic so he had iron deficiency um he slowly became less energetic more reclusive was not playing.
With friends at school um wasn’t playing with his cousins I would rather just be in my arms and then he started to have some gastrointestinal issues he was very gassy started to lose weight everywhere else but his belly got very distended so yeah you kind of see pictures of children in third world countries who.
Are malnourished and that’s kind of what he ended up looking like at the end of the year and look back at pictures of him when he turned three and looking back on it it’s like how could we you think how did we not know something was wrong but it’s just of a year and that’s what makes it very challenging for people to find actually get diagnosed at.
The end of the day I that’s great information to share as to how his um disease was was so now I assume that you got the diagnosis you’re able to give him what he needs so he can grow and thrive and and be out playing again y yeah and that’s that’s a journey in itself finding glutenfree food and snacks that children like.
Because I think I’m I know that you have children and children can be very picky in what they eat and just so to find Alternatives um that children actually enjoy is difficult and then also gluten-free food is very expensive so it’s challenging you know financially to try new products because you don’t know if they’re going to take one bite and.
Not like it and then you spend $10 on a box of you know five bars that they’re just not going to eat yeah that that’s unfortunate that these Specialty Foods are more expensive I just don’t understand that it it seems so unfair which is why Nick snack pack is so valuable and so needed among parents like you and that are trying to give.
Their kids you know options that they will eat so what help help me understand how you come about you raise money and and you buy the snacks yourself I mean how does it work yeah thanks for asking so so we um we get about half of our products from companies who produce certified gluten-free snacks we’ve reached out to probably over 50.
Companies um just to explain what we’re doing explain our mission and see see if they would be willing to help us by donating product include in our snack packs and in turn we’re helping them by getting a sample of their product to potential customers Countrywide so um about half of our products in the snack packs right now.
Are graciously donated by companies that have partnered with us and then we do purchase the rest of the snacks that happen to be some of Nick’s favorite snacks uh we like to include and um we mail them out and um we you know we like I said earlier we Shi them at no cost to the recipient we want everyone to have equal access to Nick.
Snack Pack no matter what their financial situation is um so it can be quite costly to mail out every snap pack so uh we rely on donations from um anyone who feels inspired by our mission to help us cover the cost of the snap packs and mailing them out to everyone that’s wonderful so how can people help you if they want to donate.
Yeah if you feel inspired by our mission you can go to our website at www.ni snackpack doccom and there is a link where you can donate um and if you don’t have the means to donate uh we would welcome any support by spreading the word about Nick snackpack because you never know who who you know has celiac disease and who.
Whose family has been affected by it so we want to reach every child who has celiac disease that would be that’s definitely our mission and so just spreading the word and following us on social media would be very helpful as well absolutely so what’s been the reaction when you sent out the snack packs from the parents and the children.
The feedback gosh that is the best part um the reaction has been very favorable uh we receive pictures from Happy children um with our snack packs we uh Nick receives letters handwritten letters from these children and we’ve received some videos and then um I received so many messages from parents who just are.
So appreciative to um have strangers send them their child a surprise um from someone that they don’t know just to let them know that they’re not alone in having celiac disease that there’s other kids out there who have it as well and people care about about them so um just the messages that I receive from parents just make me tear up every time because.
Uh it’s something that I never realized that I needed I get to connect with these parents who are in the same exact boat and going through the same struggles um so the feedback has been amazing amazing and it just motivates us to want to continue doing this for a long time I love that isn’t it amazing how a.
Community of people coming together can really strengthen us all it strengthens them in how you are trying to navigate through helping Nick with celiac disease and they’re also getting strength and it’s comforting and it’s just knowing you’re not alone in this journey people are being seen people are being heard and cared for and really that what just.
Makes the world such a better place so I can imagine how heartwarming that is for you and Nick and your family so one final question how is Nick doing today yeah he’s great he’s he’s been loving Nick’s snackpack he was a little um he was a little hesitant about having his face on the logo at first uh but that now he he secretly loves it he loves all.
The this the pictures and the you know letters that he gets and it just makes him feel special and it’s teaching him that he can help other people so and he’s healthy and thriving and now that you figured out what was going on he’s doing much better correct yes he is um and you know honestly it’s kind of a blessing that he was diagnosed so early.
Because I think he doesn’t even really even know what he’s missing out on with the non-g gluten-free food so he is happy and thriving and we couldn’t ask for anything more that’s wonderful well I want to thank you for being my guest today and for sharing all about Nick snackpack it’s wonderful to see how you took a.
Situation that could have you know that was not positive in the beginning and turned it into a positive one and helping others and I love that so thank you so much folks can go to Nick snackpack do.com to learn more about it and of course to support you Jennifer thank you so much for joining me today thank you absolutely and that will do it.
For this edition of conversations with Nicole until I see you again I hope you have a great day
