Nonprofit Unveils Artwork Honoring Children with Food Allergies

WASHINGTON, June 8, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Kids With Food Allergies (KFA), a division of the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA), unveiled a specially commissioned glass tile mosaic for its 10th anniversary to honor children with food allergies and their families. The artwork will be on display at the Pepco Gallery of Art through the summer before its permanent installation in the AAFA corporate headquarters in Landover, MD.

The art was created by talented young student artists from Arts on the Block (AOB), a charity that provides creative young people with real-world experiences in the arts, educational guidance and entrepreneurial training. The mosaic was generously sponsored by Inovalon, a cloud-based technology company that provides data insight to healthcare companies. See photographs of the mosaic at http://goo.gl/WlauMn.  

Feeding a Need

In 2005, KFA was one of the first patient organizations of its kind to create a purely online network nationwide, providing trustworthy web-based education from allergy experts and peer-to-peer support via the Internet. "No one else was doing this and parents dealing with food allergies really had nowhere to turn," says KFA Founder and AAFA Senior Vice President of Community Services, Lynda Mitchell. "We found an unmet need in the patient community and we built an organization around that, and the need kept growing. Now we serve nearly 50,000 families."

In 2012, KFA merged to become a division of AAFA—and brought to AAFA its online expertise. "KFA's innovative model was ahead of its time," says Dr. Cary Sennett, President and CEO of AAFA. "The merger between AAFA and KFA meant that AAFA developed not only a deep understanding of the issues that are important to people with food allergy, but experience building and managing digital sites that will allow us to provide the same kind of services to the other asthma and allergy communities we serve," says Dr. Sennett. "This is the future of patient support, and KFA puts AAFA at the leading edge."

Celebrating with Art and Entertainment

The art was recently unveiled at an anniversary event hosted by AAFA at the BlackRock Center for the Arts in Germantown, MD, for families and kids to have fun and to officially commemorate the 10-year milestone with presentations, awards and speeches. Entertainment was provided by "Food Allergies Rock" musician Kyle Dine, and KFA founder Lynda Mitchell, AAFA Board Chair Heidi Bayer, and several long-term KFA staff were recognized for their many years of outstanding service.

About KFA
Kids With Food Allergies is a division of the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America.  KFA is dedicated to keeping children with food allergies safe and healthy through free web-based education programs, support, communities, webinars, an allergy buyers' guide, a database of allergen-free recipes, and much more. For more information, see www.kidswithfoodallergies.org

About AAFA
The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America is dedicated to improving the quality of life for people with asthma and allergies through education, advocacy, and \research. AAFA provides education and support through a national network of chapters, educational support groups and online communities. AAFA also supports research for better treatments and cures. For more information, visit www.aafa.org

SOURCE Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America

Related Links

http://www.aafa.org

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