During this stressful holiday season I can only imagine how difficult it can be to have a child with a serious food allergy. Not only do you feel helpless at times but you have the uncomfortable task of dealing with the other adults who can't understand why your child's food allergy has put an end to your school's holiday bake sale.
It recently occurred to me that some of the best allergy blogs and sites are created from concerned family members. They are the accidental advocates that have helped save lives with the information they have passed on. Here's a list of some of the regular people who have taken a difficult situation and created something really positive out of it:
The ELL Foundation was founded by Kathleen Sullivan. She was inspired by her son who has many serious food allergies. Sullivan felt the need to create this non-for-profit organization that supports more accurate FA labeling and manages a nationwide program of training services on FA safety for schools, camps, daycare facilities and homes.
Allergymoms website was created by Gina Clowes, she is also the author of
One of the Gang: Nurtuing the Souls of Children with Food Allergies.
Allergy Apparel is the hippest line of allergy aware clothes created by a stay-at-home mom of two boys, one with a severe nut allergy.
FAAN is the Food Allergy Initiative founded in 1998 by concerned parents and grandparents. In 2009, they have merged with The Food Allergy Project, creating the largest private source of funding for food allergy research in the U.S.
Beyond A Peanut was started by a mom with two kids with peanut allergies. Her mission is empower children with FAs and to teach those who care for them how to provide a safe environment.
Flashcards from Beyond A Peanut.
Filed under:
Advocacy, Children, Dairy-free, Gluten-free, Holiday, Peanut-free, Support Groups, Wheat-free
Tags:
Food allergy, gluten free, holiday, peanut allergy
Another useful product for those with peanut allergies, or their classmates, is "soynut" butter, which is surprisingly just like peanut butter - there's some info on it here:
http://www.nannyquestions.com/notpeanutbutter.html
SoyNut Butter Company makes a great product. I featured it in one my first posts here. I can't partake any more, as I have a soy allergy among other things, but I think it tastes good. Also, in Canada and the UK they have something called Pea Nut Butter made from peas which is supposed to be tasty as well.