Fall Family Food Allergy Events!

 The FPIES Foundation has participated in several food allergy awareness events this fall! 

On September 13th The FPIES Foundation was once again honored to provide families with FPIES information on at Boston Zoo on a day for families living with Food Allergies sponsored by Boston Children’s Hospital FACET program. 

October, along with sponsoring Global FPIES Day worldwide, brings us raising awareness locally in Massachusetts and Minnesota! 

On October 5, 2014, we were honored to be among the exhibitors to have a booth at the FARE Walk in Boston.  Amanda LeFew, Co-Director of The FPIES Foundation, greeted families and raised awareness to Food Protein Induced Enterocolitis Syndrome, a different type of Food Allergy. FPIES Foundation Volunteer, Victoria Warren, Emceed the event and Medical Advisory Board Members Dr. Lee, Dr.Yuan, and Dr. Shreffler were in attendance and met up with a large group of FPIES Families!

October 11, 2014, The FPIES Foundation participated in The FASGMN Food Allergy Resource Fair for the 4th year. Joy Meyer, Co-Director of The FPIES Foundation was on hand to raise awareness to FPIES, and included providing CheeCha Puff samples, donated by our partners at CheeCha puffs!

The FPIES Foundation is committed to building awareness, education and support to families affected by Food Protein Induced Enterocolitis Syndrome, our shoes may be small but our steps will be big! We wrapped up this season of awareness by participating as an exhibitor in the NASPGHAN conference in Atlanta! Truly, a big step--- the FPIES Foundation was the first FPIES advocacy non-profit organization to participate in this esteemed National Pediatric GI conference! Watch for future posts about details regarding this successful event!

This post was written by the Executive Board of The FPIES Foundation 

A Roaring Good Time! FPIES Families meet at Boston's Franklin Park Zoo.

Families living with FPIES were offered a rare treat in Boston, the chance to meet each other face to face and ask Allergy experts questions about the latest research and treatments available!

 

Boston Children's Hospital Hosted the event on Saturday, September 28, 2013.   It was free to any family with a child suffering from food allergies.   More than 300 families registered for the event and rare allergies such as FPIES and EOE were highlighted alongside the more common IgE-mediated allergies.

The FPIES Foundation table was a busy and popular meeting spot! The Foundation is thrilled at the response and enthused at how many families stopped by to say hello and introduce their little ones. It is also rewarding that many people from the food allergy community who never heard of FPIES before stopped by our informational table to learn more.  Amanda Lefew, Co-Director of The FPIES Foundation, was on hand to distribute informational packets with Label Reading Tutorial, Baking and Substitutions list, and flyer's...all available for reference and print out on the Resources page of the website.

We also loved learning from some of these other organizations like "No Biggie Bunch" and "Allergy Home" and encourage you to also check them out!

 

Medical Professionals from Boston Children's Hospital Food Allergy program spoke throughout the day.   Dr.John Lee and Tara McCarthy MS,RD,LDN of The Foundation's Medical Advisory Board hosted talks and answered questions. 
 

The best part of the day was the pure joy on the children's faces.  One mother told us her 3yr.old didn't believe other children had FPIES and that is why she wanted to bring him out.  Many families ended their day together on the zoo's playground, enjoying chatting and watching their children play and run around.  A moment where kids were just kids, and families realized they are not alone.
 

This article is written by Victoria Warren.  Victoria is a television news reporter for the NBC affiliate in Boston, WHDH-TV.  Victoria is a parent volunteer with The FPIES Foundation Volunteer Advisory Board.  Follow Victoria on twitter @VWarrenon7.