Food Allergy Awareness Week Plans

Food Allergy Awareness Week begins May 13 and I hope that everyone will choose just one thing to help educate and spread the word about food allergies. Here's what I've got planned so far:

Welcome Home Magazine article

• On Monday May 14, my article, Challenging Journey: Food Allergies will be posted on the Family and Home Network's Facebook page.
• On Tuesday, May 15, I'll be part of the Food Allergy Twitter Party which starts at 8 pm Eastern. Food Allergy Buzz has posted some easy-to-follow information about participating in a Twitter party. I'll be using Tweetdeck that evening. Let me know if you have any questions.
• I plan to communicate with our school district's head of food services about their plans to have a Food Show at the beginning of next school year. I want to make sure they have cafeteria food ingredient information on-hand and can talk about cross contamination so our food allergy families can make safe and informed choices. 
• I'm also going to sit down and craft a letter to my representatives concerning the School Access to Emergency Epinephrine Act. My school district does stock epinephrine, but it's not a law in my home state.

What do you plan to do next week to spread the word about food allergies. It doesn't need to be huge. I've always appreciated the acronym TEAM- Together Each Accomplishes More. Let's all work together next week to bring food allergy awareness to the forefront.

Still need ideas? Check out FAAN's suggestions.

We're Having a Twitter Party!

Okay, I'll admit, I'm not sure exactly what that means yet, but I'm learning. This party is being hosted by Jennifer of Food Allergy Buzz and Ruth of Best Allergy Sites.

To join in the fun, on Friday May 15 at noon and again at 10:30 pm (Eastern Time), visit tweetgrid.com and type in #foodallergy. You can use another Twitter real-time dashboard of your choosing, but "tweetgrid" works and that's good enough for me.

This will take you to the party where you will see streaming conversation. During the two party times, you can ask questions or make comments on anything food allergy related. I'm participating in the noon party and I plan to be sleeping during the 10:30 pm one- yeah, I know, quite the party animal.

Anyway, I hope you'll join us.

The participating panelists are:

@chupieandjsmama
@foodallergyassistant
@foodallergymama
@allergicgirl
@nut_freemom
@foodallergybuzz
@bestallergysite

Send a note to Jennifer B. if you have food allergy products available for prizes- yes there are even prizes at this party!