Kel and her husband say they want their sons to have the chance to experience and have fun going trick-or-treating, so they have bought back pieces of their children’s candy that would cause allergic reactions.
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Often, parties include candy that contains nuts or dairy products.
Not only is teal the color for food allergy awareness but it’s now rubbing off onto Halloween pumpkins. Whatever organizations that we can help out, we try to. “This year we’re really trying to push the food allergies”.
The campaign was launched last Halloween by Food Allergy Research and Education. Within a span of 12 months, the project has gained significant momentum. A goal of around 100,000 households has been set by FARE for participating and placing pumpkins of teal-colored on their lawn or porch or by printing out official sign from the website of FARE by placing in the window or front door to say that there are non-food treats for those who can not eat candy.
Residents who place a teal pumpkin on their doorstep send a message to trick-or-treaters and their families that that home will have non-food treats like glow sticks, stickers, bracelets, etc.in support of children with food allergies. The provision for adding your name and address to an online crowd-sourced map of participating homes have also been arranged by the organization.
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Given her daughter’s problem, Zawadski said, she’s sympathetic to other parents of allergic kids, particularly those with multiple allergies. Parents are still urged to be vigilant, however, because of cross-contamination and other potential pitfalls – and also to keep their child’s allergy medication handy while walking through the neighborhood. “I’m very hopeful that this year we’ll see a few teal pumpkins”, said a hopeful Hayes.
