Tuesday, May 10, 2011

I challenge you!

It's Food Allergy Awareness Week. In it's honor, I have decided to use word of mouth to educate and hopefully make others more aware of food allergies.

I had no intention of educating someone on Mothers Day. I was in a huge hurry trying to get our bag packed to head to my moms house and for the long trip down, but like everything else it didn't go as planned.

When we got to my moms, I realized that I left Hannah's favorite "safe" cookies at home. I headed to the local wal-mart hoping that they carried any sort of Enjoy Life cookies. I was praying that they had Snickerdoodle (H's favorite) but would be happy for any kind of their cookies.

I searched the store but was not familiar with the lay out--so I asked an employee in passing if they carried them. The employee happened to be the manager of the store. I explained what I was looking for--and that we left our "safe" stash at home.

We chatted briefly and he was surprised that Enjoy Life was made in a nut free facility. He also had no idea that they were free of the top 8 allergens. He kept asking me questions about food allergies and told me that I taught him something new. He was very thankful for the knowledge and very nice.

It was a quick conversation but it reminded me that even the most casual of conversations can turn into a chance to educate someone on food allergies.

I challenge everyone to talk to just one person per day this week to spread awareness--together we CAN make a difference!






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2 comments:

Unknown said...

That's awesome Jen! I love when people are so willing to learn and show a genuine interest in food allergies. I can leave hoping they will share what they've learned with someone else.

Thank you for sharing. I am totally up for the challenge!

Anonymous said...

Excellent idea. Starting small is so effective. So many people have that "I didn't realize..." type of reaction.