The Peoria chapter of a national nonprofit is building partnerships to make the area friendlier to those with food allergies.
Lindsey Spangler is the co-founder of Red Sneakers Peoria, the local chapter of the national Red Sneakers for Oakley organization. Spangler and her co-founder Chris Horan both have children with food allergies.
“For our family, and for so many other food allergy families, dining out is just something you don’t do,” Spangler said. “The risk of an allergic reaction is, the second most common place for an allergic reaction is a restaurant. So, our families, we avoid that.”
Part of Red Sneakers Peoria's mission is making more restaurants allergy friendly for families like Spanglers'.
Spangler is a nurse practitioner and qualified to educate restaurant staff, like those at Clink Bar and Events in Peoria Heights. The restaurant will get a food allergy friendly certification and resources like EpiPens donated from Red Sneakers at the end of the process.
“Our goal is all of Peoria Heights,” Spangler. said “There’s so many restaurants there. We really want Peoria Heights to be the hub of an allergy friendly neighborhood, an allergy friendly restaurant. And then, obviously, expand to the Peoria area.”
Spangler says, to her knowledge, Clink will be the very first venue in the Peoria area to have the FARECheck certification.
The organization is celebrating with a launch party on May 2 from 5 to 10 p.m. at Clink Bar and Events. 15% of the proceeds from the event will go to Red Sneakers.