 By now it should be no secret that nonprofit organizations were hit hard during the COVID pandemic. Our community events and education in schools took the hardest hit. Fewer volunteers means fewer community events, like our beloved egg hunt and trunk-or-treat. Fewer volunteers also means outreach like our newsletter, social media, and blog took a hit. While realizing our plans over the last couple of years may not look how we initially thought they would, FAAM is still swimming! What has not changed is our mission of providing support to those diagnosed with food allergies and food allergy education in our Mid-South community. We've continued to fulfill requests for Zoom presentations and trainings, provide information to those managing a new food allergy diagnosis, and are thrilled to be facilitating in-person presentations again! So while things may look quiet on social media, know FAAM is working overtime to fulfill our mission. Want to help? Contact us and let us know how!
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Easter 2020 is going to be like no other! Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting quarantine, we are going to have to be resourceful and get creative. It can be done! Just remember this: if Easter or Passover look a little -or a lot- different this year, that's okay! Think outside of last year's Easter basket for new takes on old traditions, or make new ones entirely (or even just for this year, let's call them "Traditions-In-Place" maybe?). Neither rain, nor more rain, stopped us from having a TEALly good time at this year's Teal Pumpkin Trunk-or-Treat! Families from 3 states braved the rain to safely enjoy this fun, food-free holiday.   If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me how to "do the Teal Pumpkin Project", I would be rich! I am excited to share with you how easy and affordable it is to include ALL children on Halloween. Join the Food Allergy Alliance of the Mid-South in turning the Mid-South teal this Halloween!
 For a second year, FAAM hosted a "camp" for the children in our food allergy community, their siblings and parents. Food allergy is a family-managed diagnosis so we want families to have fun together, learn together and support each other.
FAAM's 2nd Annual Virtual 5K for Food Allergy Awareness in the Mid-South was a hit! Thank you to our participants from 6 states for believing in our mission of providing food allergy support, education, advocacy and fellowship in the Mid-South! Your support will help our volunteers continue to serve our local food allergy community in many ways. Your kindness has humbled our hearts and put some real wind in our sails to press on through 2019. We all know April showers bring May flowers so we anticipate soggy egg hunts most years. We knew we couldn't depend on the weather this year especially, so we found a location with both an indoor and outdoor option. The littles enjoyed an egg hunt that included soft toys, while the older kiddos' eggs were filled with emoji toys, cars, slap bracelets and more. Everyone had a good time looking for the few golden, prize eggs! We send another HUGE thank you to our event co-sponsor, Dr. Blake Billups, who provided the toy egg fillers. And an even bigger THANK YOU to our volunteers for the making the magic happen!
 The only way to prevent a food-allergy reaction is to avoid the problem food. But you can’t know whether a food contains an allergen simply by looking at it.
Laws and regulations like the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act of 2004 (FALCPA) have made it easier for people with food allergies to identify problem foods and avoid them.  Imagine that you are dining out with family or friends and your throat starts to itch and feel tight. Your lips, tongue, and throat begin to swell, and you start coughing. It gets difficult to breathe. You feel lightheaded and dizzy. You have no idea what is happening. What do you do?
We all look forward to spending time with family and friends during the holidays. For those of us managing food allergies, we may feel tense about the upcoming challenges. From finding substitutions for recipes to family members who do not understand the need to be cautious, going home for the holidays may come with added stress. We turned to FAAM members and followers on social media and asked how they decrease holiday stress and manage food allergies over the holidays. They shared the following tips: Our fourth year of hosting a trunk-or-treat just for our Mid-South food allergy community was just as much fun as our first! This event grows each year and is a fun time for the lil' goblins and their parents. After a costume parade to show off their cool costumes, the children trick-or-treat for non-food items at trunks decorated by parents and grandparents. We then move inside to play festival games and earn more non-food prizes. What stood out the most to me was a group of parents just hanging out in the middle of the room, they were talking to each other and their children were going through the games again without them. This may not seem unusual for most people, but it is not typical for our food allergy families at a food-centered event. But this safe, food-free event allowed both parents and children time to relax and enjoy the holiday. That is exactly why we work hard to make sure we continue to serve our community in such an important way. We are already looking forward to next year! I am very thankful to our volunteers who arrived early, worked the event, and stayed late to make sure our children felt included this Halloween; to Food Allergy Research & Education for helping sponsor this event; to Blake Billups, DDS for donating non-food items; and to the Bartlett Fire and Police Departments for participating. Thank you all for allowing our children to enjoy a fun, holiday tradition in a safe way! Click here for information on FARE's Teal Pumpkin Project. by Kelley Barnett
 If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me how to "do the Teal Pumpkin Project", I would be rich! I am excited to share with you how easy and affordable it is to include ALL children on Halloween. Join the Food Allergy Alliance of the Mid-South in turning the Mid-South teal this Halloween!
 Last weekend, FAAM hosted the first camp for kids diagnosed with food allergies in the Mid-South! FAAM parents and children ages 4-14 came to camp for Taekwondo, calm kits, parent chats and the splash pad. Camp was food-free which allowed attendees to relax and have fun; a luxury not fully experienced by individuals diagnosed with food allergies in traditional camp settings.
 The Food Allergy Alliance of the Mid-South (FAAM) hosted its first virtual 5K fundraiser, June 10-16, 2018. FAAM is 100% volunteer-run. We have no employees; our board, officers, presenters and volunteers all work from their hearts. We are grateful those hearts are HUGE and have the capacity to love and support our food allergy community the way they do. The work we do requires funding, and while we receive grants, they do not cover everything we do. That's where our wonderful community, and people in communities across 7 states, chose to give us support that was overwhelmingly wonderful. I could go on and on about how grateful I am for each of you who sponsored, donated, participated, and supported us through this fundraiser, but no words can accurately convey that kind of gratitude. THANK YOU for going the extra mile for food allergy awareness and allowing us to continue our work in the Mid-South! Please know you made a HUGE difference right here at home and we will continue to feel your love and support throughout the next year as we host food-free events, train educators, educate the public, and support and advocate for our local food allergy community.
We are grateful for the generosity of our sponsors. FAAM is a community organization and having the backing and support of our community is important in what we are able to accomplish for the Mid-South. THANK YOU!  by Janette Kennedy, MAEd  I painted this picture when I was expecting my daughter. There are cute little footprints coming out of the river, and my hope of seeing her summit her dreams. Most of the picture, though, is the cover of the jungle: the insects and upturned leaves that hide the unknown that she will travel through in this life.
As parents, one of our most important jobs is preparing our kids to navigate a world we can’t always see, and sometimes, one that we struggle ourselves to make sense of. Already, her world is so different than mine. Our annual food-free egg hunt was hoppin' this year! Our little bunnies enjoyed decorating eggs (not real ones, but they look like it!), taking photos with Bunny, and watching The Magnificent Magic Show. For the grand finale, they hopped over to the egg hunt where they found plenty of eggs with non-food treasures inside. A food-free events means the children keep everything they find. This is a wonderful feeling for parents of children with food allergies - no digging to find what is deemed "safe" and no disappointed faces when the child cannot keep the candy they found because it contained their allergens. Parents also hunted for eggs to win some eggstra special prizes!  We send a huge THANK YOU to our sponsors and volunteers for making this special event happen. We could not have done it without you! The hearts of our volunteers, Food Allergy Research & Education (FARE), Ms. Rainbow, Memphis Zoo and Kendra Scott-Saddle Creek are the reason our children had huge smiles and felt included. Our events are fun, there is no doubt about that! They also serve a greater purpose of supporting our local food allergy community, encouraging fellowship among members and including our food allergy FAAMilies in special traditions. THANK YOU for helping us make that happen!
Egg hunts are right around the corner! Check out last year's Spring has Sprung blog post full of ideas for dyeable "eggs", safe for those with egg allergies, and ways to make your egg hunt fun for everyone.
For additional resources, hop over to FAAM's Easter & Passover board on Pinterest.
 Like many families, our holiday traditions involve food, and lots of it! It seems that every holiday we prepare a smorgasbord of yummy sides, cookies, cakes, breads...you name it from so-and-so's famous recipe of all. the. allergens. It feels overwhelming to take on the daunting task of making our beloved traditional recipes safe, but we do it. What's one more stressor this time of year anyway?
by Rebekah W.
by Janette Kennedy, MAEd  Anxiety permeated the principal’s demeanor as she invited us into the conference room. The past months had been filled with increasingly contentious emails and meetings as we tried to develop a plan to ensure that my daughter would be both safe and included at school. You see, she has life-threatening allergies to multiple foods and there are things she needs to survive that other children, and even those with food allergies, may not need. Obviously, we had let the process devolve to this moment. Here we were though, back at the table, and we learned a great deal in the process.
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Food for Thought is the blog for the Food Allergy Alliance of the Mid-South. FAAM's mission is to provide food allergy support, education, advocacy, fellowship & fun for Memphis, TN and surrounding areas.
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By using this site, you are agreeing to the terms of use stated. If you do not agree with these terms, please do not use this site. The content on this web site and any information presented by FAAM is for informational purposes only and NOT a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. The authors are not offering individual medical advice; this material is for reference only. A physician or other qualifying medical professional should always be consulted for medical advice/diagnosis. The authors of this web site; anyone associated with FAAM as members, advocates, leaders, or advisors; Friends of FAAM and/or anyone involved with the production of this web site are not responsible, and do not assume responsibility for any loss, damage, injury, illness, death, or other negative impact that may occur after reading and using the information on this web site. If you have a medical emergency, call 911 immediately and follow up with a physician. 
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