Calgary Food Bank looking for gluten-free volunteers

The Calgary food bank has a very specific request. It's looking for volunteers who have experience with celiac disease.

"We'd love to get a couple of volunteers in that can help a couple of days a month, sort the food and create our hampers for those with celiac disease," spokesperson Shawna Ogston told CBC News.

"We find that, when volunteers have family members or have the disease themselves, they understand the importance of sorting through the food to get the best items in those hampers."

The food bank has been looking for volunteers with this kind of specific experiencefor about three years, she said.

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"We would love it if they have experience with gluten-free items, and know what to look for on the packaging so that we are putting the best quality in the hampers."

Celiac disease is an inherited autoimmune disease that affects roughly one per cent of the population, according to the Canadian Celiac Association.

For those people, the small intestine can be damaged by gluten, a group of proteins found in wheat, rye, barley and cross-bred grains.

The food bank has a city-wide food drive on Sept. 14.