Texas School District Brings Food Allergy Message to 4,200 Students

Community support fuels FARE initiatives to fund research, share information, advocate for better policies and raise food allergy awareness. In turn, FARE supports community efforts by creating tools that help volunteers spread knowledge and awareness effectively. Last fall, this collaborative approach paid big dividends when volunteers near San Antonio, TX, put a free FARE resource to work, empowering more than 4,200 grade schoolers to help save lives.

During Be a PAL Spirit Day, students at six elementary campuses in the Boerne Independent School District (ISD) – pronounced "Bernie" – learned about living with food allergies. By building FARE’s Be a PAL: Protect A Life program into their lesson plans, teachers communicated what to do if a friend has a food allergy reaction and explained how kids can help their classmates with food allergies feel included and stay safe.

Darcy Jennings Moore was the driving force behind this exciting event. Starting in 2017, she led a campaign by the Boerne ISD School Health Advisory Council to increase food allergy awareness in the school district and surrounding communities. When Be a PAL Spirit Day arrived, students wore teal, heard food allergy facts during morning announcements, colored bookmarks, read books about food allergy and explored the Be a PAL presentation in  classes from science and health to art and math.

FARE thanks Darcy, the Boerne ISD School Health Advisory Council, and the administrators, teachers and staff of Van Raub, Cibolo Creek, Curington, Kendall, Fair Oaks Ranch and Fabra Elementary Schools who helped create this district-wide movement for food allergy awareness. As children carry home their new understanding of food allergies, they can spread vital knowledge throughout the Boerne community. As Darcy explains, “I am a firm believer that this education will have a ripple effect far beyond the classroom walls...this education could save a life!”