Safe to Eat Delivers More Than 1,000 Pounds of Allergen Friendly Food to Upstate New York Shelters

Back-to-school initiative brings more than half a ton of safe food to four shelters across three counties

ONEONTA, NY, UNITED STATES, August 20, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Safe to Eat, the nonprofit founded by University of Rochester student Devin August Sailer, has completed its Back-to-School Food Drive, delivering more than 1,000 pounds of top-nine-allergen- and gluten-free food to four homeless and domestic violence shelters across three Upstate New York counties.

The initiative was created to help shelters stock their shelves with safe food options as children and families prepare for the start of a new school year.

More than 1.5 million children live in families without a home, and 42 percent of those children are under the age of six. For families managing food allergies, housing insecurity can bring an additional challenge: access to food does not necessarily mean access to food that is safe to eat.

“Going back to school can already be a difficult time for families experiencing housing insecurity,” said Sailer. “For children with food allergies, there is the added concern of whether the food available to them is actually safe to eat. This drive was about helping shelters have safe options available when families need them.”

Sailer knows that concern firsthand. He has lived with severe, life-threatening food allergies since infancy and founded Safe to Eat after recognizing a gap in the way food insecurity is often addressed. While food pantries, shelters and community organizations work to ensure families have enough to eat, families managing food allergies may have far fewer options available to them.

Safe to Eat works to help close that gap by providing shelters with foods free from the top nine major allergens and gluten, while also promoting greater awareness of food allergies within organizations serving vulnerable families.

The Back-to-School Food Drive was made possible in large part through generous donations and support from LesserEvil, Vermont Nut Free Chocolates, Brothers-All-Natural and Price Chopper, along with members of the community who contributed to the initiative.

“We could not have reached our goals without the businesses and individuals who stepped up to help,” Sailer said. “Their support means shelters can offer more choices to families who may already be navigating an incredibly difficult time.”

The drive represents more than half a ton of allergen-friendly food placed directly into the hands of organizations serving families in need. For Safe to Eat, however, the significance of the initiative goes beyond the number of pounds delivered.

The goal is to make allergen-friendly food a routine part of conversations about hunger and food insecurity and to ensure that children with food allergies are not overlooked simply because their dietary needs are more complicated.

About Safe to Eat

Safe to Eat is a nonprofit organization founded by Devin August Sailer to improve access to safe food for people living with food allergies who are experiencing housing and food insecurity. The organization provides top-nine-allergen- and gluten-free foods to homeless and domestic violence shelters across Upstate New York and works to increase awareness of food allergy needs within the emergency shelter system.

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