It’s a sunny Autumn Saturday afternoon, and a few of your child’s friends from school have come over to play. Being the helpful parent that you are, you take it upon yourself to prepare some nice PB&J sandwiches as a snack without even being asked to do so. You are feeling pretty good about your efforts only to be politely informed that your lovely snack would, in fact, send one of your child’s guests to the emergency room, or worse. “But thank you anyway,” the well-mannered young lady responds.

Unfortunately, this fictitious exchange is all too real for a growing number of children in our country. According to a Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology study cited on the  The Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN) website, the incidence of peanut allergy among children appears to have tripled between 1997 and 2008. FAAN— founded in 1991—is the world’s largest nonprofit organization of its kind. Their mission is to raise public awareness, to provide advocacy and education, and to advance research on behalf of all those effected by food allergy and anaphylaxis.

FAAN is teaming up with a group of motivated Westchester County residents and local leaders to sponsor the “Walk for Food Allergy of Westchester” on Saturday, October 1in Glen Island Park on Pelham Road in New Rochelle. Among the high-profile local participants will be Congresswoman Nita Lowey, WABC-TV Meteorologist Lee Goldberg, and the former anchor of CNN’s “American Morning” Kiran Chetry.

Chetry—who has a 5½-year-old daughter, Maya, who suffers from peanut and tree nut allergies—is working with the FAAN event for the second year in a row. Patch recently caught-up with Chetry between her extremely busy schedule as a full-time mom and a national news anchor. “The awareness about children dealing with life-threatening food allergy is getting better, but it is still not always understood,” explained Chetry. Concerning her involvement in the upcoming walk, she said, “I hope that by taking part in FAAN’s walk and raising awareness, we can help children and families dealing with food allergies, and at the same time make kids better fellow citizens by making sure they take precautions to protect their classmates and friends.” 

Patch also tracked-down one of the unsung heroes of the upcoming FAAN event, second-time Co-Chair Bonnie Weinbach of Larchmont. Weinbach is extremely aware of how food allergies can affect an entire family. Besides her brother and husband both having allergies, her two children, Aaron, 6, & Julia, 4, both suffer from various food allergies. Aaron is allergic to milk, eggs, soy, tree nuts, peanuts, peas, mustard, avocado, and sesame seeds. His sister Julia is allergic to eggs, fish and nuts. 

“My biggest worry about my kids [is] their food allergies,” said Weinbach. “I am constantly working on finding the perfect balance between keeping them safe and living life to the max.” In addition to being the Co-Chair of Saturday’s FAAN walk, Weinbach is also one of the top personal fundraisers. To date, the Westchester Team has raised $143,000 of their $165,000 goal— of which she has personally raised $6,740— making her the number three fundraiser in the entire county.

In addition to fundraising, large portions of FAAN’s efforts are focused on education and awareness. For those unfamiliar with this worthwhile cause, here are some basic facts about this condition from the "Food Allergy Q&A For Reporters" on the FAAN website:

• A food allergy is a condition in which the immune system incorrectly identifies a food protein as a threat and attempts to protect the body against it by releasing chemicals into the blood. The release of these chemicals results in the symptoms of an allergic reaction.
• Symptoms may begin with a tingling sensation, itching, or a metallic taste in the mouth. Other symptoms can include hives, a sensation of warmth, wheezing or other difficulty breathing, coughing, swelling of the mouth and throat area, vomiting, diarrhea, cramping, a drop in blood pressure, and loss of consciousness.
• As many as 15 million Americans have food allergies, including 6 million children (as many as 1 in 13).
• There is presently no known cure for food allergies, however, the good news is that many children will outgrow their food allergies.
• The following eight foods are responsible for 90% of all food-allergic reactions in the U.S.: Milk, eggs, wheat, soy, peanuts, tree nuts(e.g., almonds, cashews, pecans, pistachios, walnuts), shellfish (shrimp, crab, lobster), and fish (tuna, salmon, catfish).

You might be surprised to learn that there is even evidence that individuals with food allergies are at high risk of having a reaction just from kissing someone who has recently eaten a food allergen. According to research conducted in 2006, one should wait at least four hours after consuming a food allergen before kissing someone who is allergic to that food. 

Food allergies are not only life threatening and disruptive to families’ lives, they are also expensive. According to a recent article published in The Journal of Allergy & Clinical Immunology, food allergies alone cost our country a staggering $500 million dollars per year in doctor visits, hospital care, and lost work days.

There is still time if you would like to sign-up to participate in Saturday’s walk, or donate to one of the local teams in this worthwhile event. For more details, visit the “Walk for Food Allergy of Westchester” website.

Editor's Note: A previous version of this article noted that Kiran Chetry was an anchor with CNN; she is actually a former anchor with CNN.  The article has been corrected to reflect this change.