Volunteer Ideas and Opportunities
Volunteering comes in many shapes and sizes, from hosting a community event to simply sharing information with key audiences.
Make an Impact Now
The activities below can be done with little or no planning.
Share the CONTAINS: COURAGE campaign: Launched in December 2018, this transformative five-year awareness campaign works to support families living with food allergies and educating all communities about the disease. Share the video and campaign materials with your community and on your social media pages.
Raise Awareness in Schools: FARE offers two free programs targeted to schools – one for students and one for staff. Contact your local schools to see if they would be interested in having you present, or share for them to present, either program.
- The Be a PAL: Protect A Life™ From Food Allergies education program can help children learn how to be a good friend to kids with food allergies. Resources include activity sheets and a presentation. Many of the materials are also available in Spanish.
- Keeping Students Safe and Included is an online training course designed to help school staff and administrators become better prepared to manage students with food allergies and respond to food allergy emergencies. FARE provides a template you can use to contact your local school(s).
Play Food Allergy BINGO: Spend a morning with children at a local school playing everyone’s favorite game…BINGO! Except this time, teach them about food allergies while they search for five-in-a-row. Download FARE’s custom-made Food Allergy BINGO card for an educational and fun activity.
Educate Your Local Food Bank/Soup Kitchen: Having a food allergy is hard enough. Having a food allergy while relying on meals from a soup kitchen or food pantry is even harder. Share information with your local food banks to teach them about food allergy. Even better, drop off some allergen-free/ allergen-friendly non-perishable items as well.
Help Keep Food-Allergic Diners Safe: Make sure restaurant staff knows the steps to follow from the moment a diner with food allergies walks in the door. Share our Keep Your Guests Safe poster in English and Spanish and our What You Need to Know poster in English and Spanish.
Make Food Allergy Book Bags for Preschools: Volunteer to read a food allergy book during story time and leave a book bag with additional food allergy books. You can also share Be a PAL, FARE’s education program that helps children learn how to be a good friend to peers with food allergies.
Ask Businesses and/or Schools to Keep Epinephrine on Hand: Depending on your state’s laws, public places and schools may be allowed to keep stock epinephrine on hand for allergic emergencies.
- This toolkit provides information to encourage public places—like stadiums, restaurants and amusement parks—to carry undesignated epinephrine. This is applicable in states where stock epinephrine in public places is allowed by law. Legislation differs from state to state, so be sure to review your state’s law.
- This toolkit provides information and guidance to ask your school to carry undesignated epinephrine. This is applicable in states where stock epinephrine in schools is voluntary.
Be heard! Visit our How to Advocate page to learn how you can help support federal initiatives.