Q. Is there a cost to the program?
A. No. It is completely free. Q. How many people does it take to run the Allergy Awareness Challenge? A. If run at a high school, it's recommended to have two coordinators, six additional volunteers and a teacher supervisor. Q. Who can run the program? A. Student volunteers, student's council, other clubs/groups, and teachers. |
Q. Can I bring this program to my school without taking on the responsibility of a "program coordinator"?
A. You can suggest it to your students' council or other group that facilitates health promotion within your school.
Q. There seems like a lot to print. Is there any way we can cut down on paper?
A. Yes - if you have access to a laptop, many of the game instructions and resources can be viewed digitally. You can also use email to send certificates and resources to volunteers and participants.
Q. My school will not provide approval to run the program in our school this year. What should I do?
A. A school may not be interested in running the program for several reasons. We encourage you to provide as much information about the program when presenting it to your principal and suggest it as an option for the following school year.
Q. Can this program be run outside of a high school setting?
A. Yes. It may be appropriate for higher grades in elementary school as well as other settings such as camps, community health fairs etc.
Q. Is it possible to make this into a fundraiser for Food Allergy Canada?
A. Yes. You can ask students to donate money to participate in the challenges, especially the Adopt an Allergy component. For more information, please contact Food Allergy Canada directly.
Q. Why do I have to "sign-up" my school in order to get access to the download section?
A. This allows Food Allergy Canada to track how many schools are running the program and evaluate the overall success. As all of the resources are copyrighted, this also helps us control how they are distributed.
Q. I am interested in proposing this program to my school, but am worried that it may center me out and cause teasing. What should I do?
A. Consider assembling a team of diverse volunteers (different grades, with/without allergies etc.) and run the program through a team approach. You may be the one doing the majority of the organizing, but you can always delegate volunteers to handle more public duties such as promotional announcements on the PA or at an assembly.
Q. How can I predict the size of the turnout for each activity? I will need to know in order to book an adequate sized room and to print off an appropriate number of information sheets?
A. Hopefully you will be able to pick up whether there is a big buzz around the program in your school. If unsure, it's best to ensure you have more space than less. In terms of print quantity you can make a guess of the number you will need. If you think you will run out during the challenge, ask for a volunteer to make some photocopies.
Q. Our school would like to run this program on an annual basis. Will the games be updated with new questions and content?
A. At this point Food Allergy Canada is conducting a pilot study to determine the effectiveness of the program. There are no plans to update the content at this point in time.
Q. How can I motivate non allergic students to volunteer and make it sound cool when advertising?
A. There are a number of great reasons for non allergic students to get involved including gaining valuable volunteer hours, meeting new friends, gaining leadership experience, and having a lot of fun running games with a great team.
Q. Wil Food Allergy Canada provide prizes?
A. At this time no prizes will be given to schools. However the student program coordinators are free to create fun prizes on their own for challenge winners.
Have more questions about the Allergy Awareness Challenge? Please contact Food Allergy Canada.
A. You can suggest it to your students' council or other group that facilitates health promotion within your school.
Q. There seems like a lot to print. Is there any way we can cut down on paper?
A. Yes - if you have access to a laptop, many of the game instructions and resources can be viewed digitally. You can also use email to send certificates and resources to volunteers and participants.
Q. My school will not provide approval to run the program in our school this year. What should I do?
A. A school may not be interested in running the program for several reasons. We encourage you to provide as much information about the program when presenting it to your principal and suggest it as an option for the following school year.
Q. Can this program be run outside of a high school setting?
A. Yes. It may be appropriate for higher grades in elementary school as well as other settings such as camps, community health fairs etc.
Q. Is it possible to make this into a fundraiser for Food Allergy Canada?
A. Yes. You can ask students to donate money to participate in the challenges, especially the Adopt an Allergy component. For more information, please contact Food Allergy Canada directly.
Q. Why do I have to "sign-up" my school in order to get access to the download section?
A. This allows Food Allergy Canada to track how many schools are running the program and evaluate the overall success. As all of the resources are copyrighted, this also helps us control how they are distributed.
Q. I am interested in proposing this program to my school, but am worried that it may center me out and cause teasing. What should I do?
A. Consider assembling a team of diverse volunteers (different grades, with/without allergies etc.) and run the program through a team approach. You may be the one doing the majority of the organizing, but you can always delegate volunteers to handle more public duties such as promotional announcements on the PA or at an assembly.
Q. How can I predict the size of the turnout for each activity? I will need to know in order to book an adequate sized room and to print off an appropriate number of information sheets?
A. Hopefully you will be able to pick up whether there is a big buzz around the program in your school. If unsure, it's best to ensure you have more space than less. In terms of print quantity you can make a guess of the number you will need. If you think you will run out during the challenge, ask for a volunteer to make some photocopies.
Q. Our school would like to run this program on an annual basis. Will the games be updated with new questions and content?
A. At this point Food Allergy Canada is conducting a pilot study to determine the effectiveness of the program. There are no plans to update the content at this point in time.
Q. How can I motivate non allergic students to volunteer and make it sound cool when advertising?
A. There are a number of great reasons for non allergic students to get involved including gaining valuable volunteer hours, meeting new friends, gaining leadership experience, and having a lot of fun running games with a great team.
Q. Wil Food Allergy Canada provide prizes?
A. At this time no prizes will be given to schools. However the student program coordinators are free to create fun prizes on their own for challenge winners.
Have more questions about the Allergy Awareness Challenge? Please contact Food Allergy Canada.