Food Allergy Awareness Week 2014

Class treat bags

Cynthia's idea to have our children's school celebrate Food Allergy Awareness Week proved to be a great one! We worked closely with school administration to organize a week that would raise awareness about food allergies.  The school held a teal free dress day during the week where any student wishing to participate could donate $1 to our selected organization.  We chose FARE to be the recipient of the funds raised.  Cynthia scheduled a registered nurse to speak to the middle school students and prepared food allergy posters and bookmarks to be placed around the school.  I arranged for food samples to be donated for staff awareness bags as I thought it would be helpful for them to sample food products geared for the food allergy population.  With generous samples provided by Sunbutter and Enjoy Life, I assembled staff awareness bags and class treat bags. The bags included the food samples, items sporting the teal awareness ribbon and recipes.  Our school nurse and librarian further assisted our efforts by filling the staff bags with food allergy handouts and reading food allergy books to the elementary students.  Starting the school year feeling overwhelmed and isolated, it was a great success to end the year on such a positive note. 

HFAN highlights

On May 1, 2014, the Houston Food Allergy Network held its first meeting.  What a great way to celebrate Food Allergy Awareness month. The founding members created the group's name and mission statement.  We discussed SafeFARE and presented the restaurant (Candelari's) with a flyer on how to get involved.  We identified upcoming events in our community: Food Allergy Awareness Week (May 11-17th, 2014) and the Houston FARE walk (September 6, 2014).  We are excited to begin this group and will plan to meet monthly. The next meetings are scheduled for July 14, 2014 and August 4, 2014.  All meetings will begin at 6:30p and will be held in the Fellowship Hall located at St. Theresa Catholic Church in Memorial Park.    

Welcome all!

As a mom to two young kids diagnosed with food allergies (tree nuts, peanuts, eggs and sesame), I have been searching for a support group to meet others facing the same daily challenges as my family.  After years of searching and praying, I have finally met another dedicated mom who understands and shares my passion for raising awareness about food allergies in the community. We soon recognized that it was time to start a support group in the Houston area. We have worked together over the past few months preparing this group and aligning ourselves with a great support team.  It is our hope that this group can touch the lives of many.  As we have both felt in our food allergy journeys, a food allergy diagnosis can be very isolating and stressful.  Cynthia and I hope that this group can provide the emotional, spiritual and educational support needed to make life better and safer for all of those with food allergies in our community.  Please drop in anytime for a meeting.