FAI's Campaign for a Cure

Recently, I attended the Food Allergy Initiative’s 2nd annual Chicago benefit with Betsy Thompson of Gluten Free Betsy. The event raised more than $1 million that will help support research for a food allergy cure.

The Food Allergy Initiative (FAI) is a non-profit organization that is now the largest source of funding for food allergy research in the United States.


FAI's patronage is facilitating a number of groundbreaking, research projects. Northwestern University's Paul Bryce, for instance, is spearheading an experimental therapy study that will help determine the success of a vaccine in preventing food allergies as well as minimizing symptoms for those who have already been diagnosed.

At New York's Mount Sinai's School of Medicine, Drs. Xiu-Min Li and Hugh Sampson are developing a therapy that's been designed to prevent life-threatening reactions to half the "Big 8" food allergens: peanut, treenut, shellfish and fish.

These are just a handful of the extraordinary research projects that the FAI has sponsored since it was founded in 1998. To learn more details about the organization's research and partnerships that are helping forge a path to an allergen-free future, please click here .

One of the more heartwarming moments of the night was a sequence of videos that helped illuminate how parents are coping with their children's severe reactions to food allergens. FAI has uploaded several inspiring videos on its YouTube channel. I have included the video from the event, I encourage you to show it to people so they can understand what food allergies mean on an everyday basis.



Through the Safe & Sound dinners I am glad to support FAI's efforts with a silent auction item and a monetary donation.

I can't say enough good things about the extraordinary work FAI is doing on behalf of the estimated 12 million Americans with food allergies--and their friends and family members who are also affected by the condition.

FAI's headquarters are in New York and it has recently established outlets in Chicago and the Pacific Northwest. Please consider volunteering or making a donation. But most importantly, spread the word!