FAAN Walk for Food Allergy — Moving Toward
a Cure Borderland State Park, Sharon, Massachusetts Details for earlier FAAN Walks can be found here.
Good weather strikes for a third time! For the third year in a row, a contingent of TRAIN families participated in the FAAN Walk for Food Allergy during a beautiful autumn morning.
This year's walk enjoyed larger overall participation with around 900 registrants and over a thousand walkers. Total fundraising for the Boston area walk was over $103,000. This FAAN fundraising event is held across the United States in 20 locations beginning in August in Indianapolis and ending in December in Tempe, AZ. So far the national fundraiser has raised over $1,370,000 which will be used for research on finding a cure for food allergies.
Representatives from several allergen-free food vendors were again present with samples. We enjoyed tasty foods from Cherrybrook Kitchen of Lawrence and Gak's Snacks of Windham, NH.
With the rise in food allergies across the world comes a rise in awareness, sometimes aided by the support of public figures. Mike Vrabel, star linebacker of the New England Patriots, was an honorary chairman of the Boston-area event (in absentia). Vrabel's wife and young sons, who have life-threatening allergies to multiple foods, were participants at the Boston-area walk in Sharon. Trace Adkins, the country music giant, is the honorary chairman of the event nationwide. His daughter suffered a life-threatening reaction to peanut-butter at the age of 18 months and is allergic to peanuts, milk, and eggs.
As usual the best part of the day was being able to spend it with good friends and strangers who share this common bond.
Please enjoy pictures from the walk which are displayed below.
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