Companies with a Conscience - Chili's Grill and Bar

Companies with a Conscience has been created  because I see companies that are striving to make their community a better place. I am tired of hearing news and seeing on Facebook about all the negative things organizations are doing, so I want to start focusing on the positive. One small positive thought in the morning can change your entire day. I want to highlight the positive and give notice for good actions.

This week's Company with a Conscience is Chili's Grill and Bar

When dealing with food allergies, many companies will compile a restrictive list of menu items that you cannot eat. Chili's has done the opposite. Chili's Grill and Bar has created a list of items that you can eat if you have a certain allergy. Check out the list! Due to cross-contamination, they obviously cannot assure complete safety when eating any item on their menu but to create an inclusive list of menu items it takes away the feeling of restriction due to your allergy. 

I give Chili's a lot of credit for the time it took to create an inclusive list, and for taking a step to removing the stigma associated with food allergies by being restrictive!

Congratulations Chili's for being a Company with a Conscience!

*If you would like to submit a "Company with a Conscience" for upcoming posts, please use this link Companies with a Conscience Submission Form *

Companies with a Conscience - Opa Greek Restaruant

Hello!

As promised this is my second post for Companies with a Conscience!

This bi-weekly post is to encourage positivity online and highlight restaurants that are doing good for the community.

For the weeks of 11/1/2015-11/15/2015 I am highlighting Opa Greek Restaurant!

I have chosen to highlight them due to their knowledge and ability to cater to the allergic community. I recently placed an order and when I asked my normal questions about latex gloves, possible allergens and my safety, I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of knowledge the staff had. For the first time in a long time, while trying to receive answers pertaining to my allergies, I wasn't made to feel like I was burdening anyone.  I had an extensive conversation with them about my allergies and am so impressed with how allergy friendly they are. I would encourage everyone to visit Opa Greek Restaurant!

Opa Greek Restaurant
260 Islip Ave
Islip, NY 11751
631-650-0620
www.OpaGreekRest.com
Instagram: @OPSOFISLIP

Congratulations Opa Greek Restaurant for being a Company with a Conscience!

*If you would like to submit a "Company with a Conscience" for upcoming posts, please use this link Companies with a Conscience Submission Form *

Companies with a Conscience

I am starting this bi-weekly post and am calling it "Companies with a Conscience"  The idea behind this is that everyday, I see companies that are striving to make their community a better place. I am tired of hearing news and seeing on Facebook about all the negative things organizations are doing, so I want to start focusing on the positive. One small positive thought in the morning can change your entire day. I want to highlight the positive and give notice for good actions.

For the weeks of 10/25/15-11/1/15 I am highlighting Target

Since I am an advocate for food and latex allergy awareness and it is Halloween time, I felt it was fitting to start this new endeavor with Target. This weekend 10/25/2015, Target had a "safe Halloween" event. They asked that you bring your kids to Target dressed in their Halloween costumes so they can trick or treat throughout the store. Naturally, I walked along the entire store to see what the options were for the kids. First, I saw some nutrition bars, and then some candy, and I couldn't help but wonder if there were any non-food options for allergic children when low and behold, I noticed each station had a non-food option for children; there was stickers, tattoos and mini toys. Now, I am not sure if their intention was to provide non food options specifically for allergic children, but regardless of their specific intentions it still helped out the allergic community. It was really wonderful to see that a company is not only providing a safe Halloween in terms of general safety, but also safe for allergic children who may not have the opportunity to enjoy Halloween like everyone else, do to their medical restrictions.

Congratulations Target for being our first Company with a Conscience!

*If you would like to submit a "Company with a Conscience" for upcoming posts, please use this link Companies with a Conscience Submission Form *

Nut Free Flying: Jet Blue

I wanted to retract my statement about JetBlue Airways​ being a good airline for traveling nut free. While Flying on August 19, I saw the below package of cookies, and assumed they provided nut free flights. In my excitement, I didn't do my research, and provided false information.

Thank you to @jetblue for keeping people like me safe on their flights! #JetBlue #nutfree #skeeter

A photo posted by Leanne Pinard (@leannepinard) on Aug 20, 2015 at 5:08am PDT

Although they offer nut free foods (like above), they also offer tree nut products that I did not notice my first flight there. My interaction with Jet Blue also caused me to believe they were completely nut free.

Jet Blue Website According to their website, they also offer bars with nuts (Kind Bar, Cranberry and Almonds), and they offer roasted cashews. According to the Jet Blue Nut Policy, although they do not serve peanuts, they cannot guarantee a peanut free flight. Passengers may bring peanuts and eat them on the flight. You can inform flight crew that you have an allergy, and they create a buffer zone of a few rows around you asking people not to open any peanut products they may have.

Sure, this is great in theory if you do not have an air born allergy because honestly, being stuck on a plane with zero airflow that spans only 25 rows will not keep you safe if someone 4 rows ahead of you is eating peanuts. On my flight experience while leaving the plane, as I was walking up from row 19 where I was seated, there were peanuts scattered on the floor at about row 8. Please tell me how I was kept safe while walking through a row of peanuts, because I wasn't. I understand it is difficult to keep planes completely nut free but when you have an air born allergy, even walking through the mess of peanuts can cause a reaction.

I am challenging Jet Blue to take a look at their peanut/tree nut policy in order to make flights safer for all passengers. This includes providing educational materials for their passengers so they can better understand the severity of allergic reactions and why it is important that they keep products with nuts off of the plane and out of the air. A way to do this is to have a sign stating "we are nut free, if you have any nut products with you please do not eat them on board"

I hope Jet Blue accepts my challenge and becomes dedicated to keeping people safe while on board their flights.

Military with PTSD

I wanted to share a topic that has recently become something very important to me, our military. I have been meeting a lot of people recently, some of them have served honorably in our military, and I am embarrassed to say that I have not thought about what is happening and has happened overseas before. There are brave heroes fighting for our country, for the freedoms we have every single day and they are not appreciated or thanked enough. So for anyone who has served, is currently serving, will serve, or has a loved one in the military, thank you for sacrificing yourself and your family to help protect those of us who may not remember exactly what you are putting on the line. 

Specifically, I would like to bring attention to our military veterans.  When I thought of a veteran, I thought of an old man who fought in the war years ago. Obviously that is not true, veterans are of all ages. There are veterans who fought in the most recent war, that are in their 20's just like me, that are now home and starting to adjust back to civilian life. I can only imagine how difficult that may be. That is why I wanted to bring attention to our veterans and those who are currently serving in our military, and I thought that now, seeing that the 4th of July is just around the corner, this was the best time to do so.

There is an organization called Military with PTSD.  Military with PTSD is a 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated to helping military and veteran families understand each other and see it from both sides. I learned about them yesterday from reading an article about their current efforts to help bring awareness to the fact that something that we view as celebratory, can be extremely traumatic or harmful for a combat veteran. Fireworks. I cannot begin to understand what exactly living with PTSD is like for each individual, I think, just like every mental illness, it is something everyone experiences differently, but I know it is extremely traumatic. Military with PTSD's most recent campaign, Explosion of Kindness 2015 provides military families with free signs that read "Combat Veteran Lives Here, Please be Courteous with Fireworks" for a $10 donation, you can cover the cost of shipping a sign, and for a $5 donation you can give a veteran a free sign according to their website. I would like to encourage everyone to make a donation to Military with PTSD in order to help spread awareness about PTSD and our veterans.

As for 4th or July, please make sure you are being respectful of these signs and of our veterans and don't forget to always thank them and their families for their service.

Thank you again to all that you do to help keep us safe.