Gateway FEAST is a community support group and educational resource for people who manage food allergies, seasonal allergies, asthma, or eczema. Based in the St. Louis metro area, we include members from across Missouri and Illinois.
Founded and led by parents of children with life-threatening allergies, Gateway FEAST is a volunteer organization dedicated to providing a community support system for children and adults who live with food allergies, asthma, or eczema themselves, or who care for someone who does.
Our online support group on Facebook serves thousands of members in St. Louis and beyond, offering peer support and fact-based information on the everyday management of atopic conditions.
We partner with St. Louis-area organizations like Circus Flora, the St. Louis Cardinals, and the Institute for Health Education at St. Luke’s Hospital to provide special inclusive events for children with life-threatening food allergies and their families.
Gateway FEAST is recommended by and has worked in partnership with Food Allergy Research and Education (FARE) and the St. Louis Chapter of Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA).
The Gateway FEAST Team
Gateway FEAST was created by people who have real-life experience managing food allergies, eczema, asthma, or other allergic conditions in their families. Our allergy support, advocacy, education, and community outreach efforts and allergy-friendly events are made possible by dedicated FEAST volunteers, who are members of the St. Louis area allergy community.
Carol Depke, Founder of Gateway FEAST
When school teacher and social media consultant Carol Depke’s son was diagnosed with a life-threatening food allergy in 2006, she felt overwhelmed. Looking for answers on how to keep her son healthy and safe, she sought out support, only to find that the St. Louis area did not have support group for people with food allergies and their families that offered what she was looking for.
What Carol wanted was a group that was local, free to join, and centered on helping people with food allergies, eczema, or asthma, and their families figure out how to manage everyday life with their conditions. She wanted a group where families could share practical tips on what worked in the real world, as well as peer support, and reputable educational resources.
Since Carol could not find such a group in the St. Louis area, she decided to start one, and Gateway FEAST was born.
Since Carol Depke founded the group in 2006, Gateway FEAST has grown to include thousands of members in the St. Louis area and across Missouri and Illinois.
Jaelithe Judy, Community Manager and Event Coordinator
After writer and internet marketing consultant Jaelithe Judy’s son was diagnosed with a life-threatening food allergy in 2009, she joined Gateway FEAST for help and advice. After a few years as a FEAST member, Jaelithe began to volunteer regularly at FEAST’s events, and in 2015 she became FEAST’s Event Coordinator, in charge of planning and promoting all annual events, and managing FEAST’s event volunteers.
In 2017, Jaelithe took over from Carol as the Community Manager and chief moderator for FEAST’s Facebook group, which offers real-time online support daily for Gateway FEAST support group members across Missouri and Illinois. Jaelithe also created and maintains this Gateway FEAST website.
Isaac Judy, Programming Advisor and Assistant Event Coordinator
Isaac Judy, a student of biochemistry at the University of Missouri, has lived with a life-threatening food allergy since age five, and has also managed environmental allergies, eczema and EoE. Isaac works to ensure that Gateway FEAST programs and events reflect the needs of people with allergic conditions based on his own real life experience in the allergy community. Isaac regularly volunteers at Gateway FEAST’s community outreach events.