Changing Halloween For Good

I want to tell you a story about how listening to your community can change the world.

This is a little long, but I hope you’ll bear with me – the lessons here are worth it.

Once Upon a Time

In the fall of 2014, I was vice president of communications at Food Allergy Research & Education, a relatively new national patient advocacy organization that had been formed by the merger of two predecessor organizations. We were funding research for treatments and to find a cure, advocating for better policy in support of our community, producing programming and education for our community, and creating awareness of the serious and sometimes deadly effects of food allergy among policymakers, community leaders, and the public.

That fall, Anna, our manager of online community, came into my office to chat about what we wanted to do for Halloween. While all holiday celebrations that center around food require lots of careful thought and planning by families managing food allergies, Halloween can be especially tough. Trying to ensure children with food allergies are included in the fun and joy of this particular holiday, while also balancing the very real concerns about the potential for an anaphylactic reaction that could threaten their lives – it’s a lot for families and for the kids themselves.

As we were brainstorming ideas, we recalled seeing a very cute social post the previous year from one of our fantastic support group leaders. Becky B. in Tennessee had painted a pumpkin teal – the color of food allergy awareness – and brought it along with her to a trunk-or-treat in her town. The Food Allergy Awareness Pumpkin and had been a great conversation starter in Becky’s local community. We hadn’t had time to publicize the idea the previous year, learning about it only a day or two before Halloween, but in 2014 we wanted to give it a try.

We reached out to Becky and got her blessing to rebrand the concept and push it out to our national audiences. After that 15-minute conversation with Anna, a chat with Becky, and another hour or two of work from our small team, we had a shareable graphic for a new initiative named the Teal Pumpkin Project?. The concept was simple – paint a pumpkin teal and place it in front of your home to let trick-or-treaters know you have non-food treats (i.e., toys) available for kids with food allergies. No time to paint a pumpkin? No problem. We also had free downloadable signs on our website you could print out and put on your door or in your window to promote the effort.

A Movement Was Born

When we shared that first social graphic, we were thrilled – and kind of in disbelief – about how quickly it took off. Back in 2014, food allergy awareness was growing but wasn’t as well established as it is now, and it was still very common for pop culture and classmates to be making fun of people with food allergies and ignoring the fact that food allergy reactions can be fatal.

So, when this idea spread across the United States and beyond, we were elated. We also knew it was our job to seize the moment and make it as successful as possible. We continued to stay in close contact with Becky, we fielded questions from our community and inquiries from dozens upon dozens of media outlets, and we added tips, non-food treat ideas, and an approachable FAQ to our website to help people participate in the Teal Pumpkin Project? in their communities.

In that first year, with only 3 weeks of promotion, our social posts reached 7 million people and we gained participants from all 50 states, a few U.S. territories, and a handful of other countries. People in communities all over our country and the world were painting pumpkins teal, taking the time to talk to their kids about what a teal pumpkin meant, and having important conversations about inclusion and finding ways to help our friends have a safe, fun Halloween.

And for the 1 in 13 children in the U.S. with food allergies, Halloween changed for good.

Since that first year, the Teal Pumpkin Project? has continued to grow. Teal pumpkins showed up at the White House trick-or-treating event in 2015, and you can now buy a teal pumpkin at Target or Michael’s. Even more importantly, it is easy to find a variety of amazing non-food treats (i.e., toys) to hand out at Halloween each year.

Changing the World For Good

It's been 7 years since the launch of the Teal Pumpkin Project?, and its impact has been undeniable. For me personally, it’s taught me some incredibly important lessons.

1. ?Listen to Your Community – Becky had a great idea, and we had the ability to build on it and bring it to a larger audience. We could have brainstormed a bunch of other concepts for Halloween, but we would have lost an amazing opportunity. We also stayed in close touch with Becky and other community members along the journey, incorporating their suggestions and addressing questions and concerns.
2. Believe in Better – There were a lot of haters that first year, and there were some who wondered whether a Halloween-focused awareness initiative was that important in the grand scheme of things. But with the energy and sharing we were seeing on social media, we knew it was possible to realize the big vision for the Teal Pumpkin Project? – making Halloween safer, more fun, and more inclusive for kids with food allergies. And however small Halloween may seem to most grownups, Halloween was a really big deal to the children in our community.
3. Tell Your Community’s Story – I promise you there is no greater joy in life than seeing the smile on the face of a child who feels truly included and cared for by their neighbors and classmates. And I told everyone about it – the media, our staff, volunteers and supporters, our community (though they already knew it!), the new people we were welcoming to our cause, and even our detractors. The change we were asking people to participate in was simple, but the impact was extraordinary.
4. Empower Your Supporters – Give people a way to make a difference in their own communities. The Teal Pumpkin Project? helped our long-time supporters and those who were new to our cause do something in their own homes, neighborhoods, and schools that would really matter for the children in their lives. When people get a chance to see the impact first-hand, it provides positive reinforcement for them to keep going, and to bring others along.
5. Be a Bridge – Nonprofit and social good organizations often fill a gap between government policy or services and the private sector. By helping demonstrate demand for non-food treats and a broad public desire to include children with food allergies, the Teal Pumpkin Project? created a market need that the private sector then stepped in to fill. Many times, social good movements are at their best when they can create a natural entry point for other sectors to participate in driving impact.
6. Understand the Moment – It’s not that often in our lives that we know we’re doing some of the most important work we’ll ever do. I distinctly remember the meeting in my office when my small, but mighty team – Anna, Nancy, Brendan, and I – took a moment to honor just how big and powerful this grassroots campaign was becoming, and how incredible it felt to know we were doing something that would truly change lives. In the social good sector, honoring the wins matters – both for ourselves as individuals and because internalizing the feeling of how good it feels to make a clear, strong impact becomes an essential measurement in exploring the potential of future initiatives. Put another way, every program and initiative should feel that good to deliver.

So, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, I'll say it again - listen to your community.

Understand their desires, their hurts and their hopes, and their ideas for what would make life better now while we continue to seek cures and better treatments that will come about in the future. When you’re working to improve the lives of the people you serve, don’t forget the small stuff. It can make a really big difference. And something as simple as a teal pumpkin can change someone's life.

You can learn more about the Teal Pumpkin Project? and how to participate on FARE’s website at https://www.foodallergy.org/our-initiatives/awareness-campaigns/living-teal/teal-pumpkin-project.?