Are you fretting about what may spoil when Hurricane Florence takes out the power? One family in the Midlands has already sent out the call for help. Their friends are helping solve a chicken nugget crisis for the second time.
We each have our own idiosyncrasies. One of mine is for a certain brand of bottled water. Yours may be for a certain brand of soda. (I can recall the uproar when one recipe was changed. Eventually the classic was reintroduced.)
When I was a child, a certain margarine changed its recipe without stating so on its packaging and my mornings were ruined. One can’t have a bowl of instant grits without a big pat of “butter” melting in the middle as you scoop into them, their very essence waking you up. (Hey, it could have been. I was too young for coffee.) But one morning it was no Goldilocks matter of choice. I tasted the grits and simply could not eat them. My perplexed dad figured out what must be different and challenged me to call the 1-800 number on the box.
I did. I even got to talk to an actual person. She tried to convince me that the new recipe was better. She failed. I was angry. I dare say I grieved the passing of my daily breakfast ritual.
But mostly I remember feeling helpless.
So you can imagine how my heart stirred in August when I saw a Facebook friend post that her son’s primary food source, Morningstar Farms’ veggie “CHIK-N Nuggets” had changed their recipe. Melissa Ellington, mom to David, described the situation as a disaster and admitted that she was panicked. She said, “If you know someone on the autism spectrum then you know that food aversions can be severe.” I almost teared up when I read about their year of feeding therapy. Melissa shared her need.
If you happen to see the old version (on the left) in stores then please let me know.
I’m not sure what she expected. But while I was wringing my hands for her, other folks sprung into action. In one week, over 150 bags of the acceptable nuggets had been acquired by at least ten different shoppers. Many shared the post and someone even drove a load down from the upstate. The Ellington family is grateful for their church, who is allowing them to use freezer space. They are well aware that they will eventually have to cope with the loss of this particular food choice. But I can hear Melissa’s change of outlook when I read the updates. She shares that she’s been hearing two songs in her head, “No One is Alone” and “You Are Not Alone.”
Community empowered a helpless mom. Social media seems consumed with the negative, with people critiquing and deriding strangers. But it also connects friends, whether they are alike or different. Melissa describes it poignantly.
What is really beautiful to me is how many people accept David’s food aversion and are not trying to change or criticize who he is even when it is hard to understand – rather they have jumped into helping without question.
Personally, I don’t know much about food aversions. Our family’s sensory issues are more focused on clothing and bed sheets. But my friends have helped me, too, solve a few of those troubles. Let’s keep banding together, mommas. Someone out there right now is feeling alone. Helping might be as easy as sharing your freezer space. David’s nuggets are safe, but someone in your tribe will be needing you…
*Need help with food aversions or other special needs? SC Family Connection provides support.
