International Red Sneakers Day 2023
International Red Sneakers Day (IRSD) is an opportunity to come together as a community, school or family to spread food allergy awareness! Red Sneakers for Oakley (RSFO) was awarded a proclamation in 2021 by the Registrar at National Day Calendar for May 20th to be officially designated as International Red Sneakers Day! The Debbs family chose this day because May is National Asthma and Allergy Awareness Month and 20 was Oakley’s jersey number. May 20th has become RSFO’s biggest outreach day of the year!
On May 20, 2023, RSFO hosted their first ever free community event for IRSD! RSFO hosted a fun day full of food allergy awareness and education in downtown West Palm Beach, Florida. Local award-winning author, keynote speaker, fitness expert, and choreographer, Amy Jordan, kicked off the event with a dance party and introduced Robert and Merrill Debbs, Oakley’s parents.
RSFO Board Member, Dr. Ruchi Gupta, MD, MPH, spoke to attendees and shared some lessons from her book, Food Without Fear. She discussed how to identify, prevent, and treat food allergies and intolerances. Food Without Fear offers guidance to families managing food allergies and intolerances. Dr. Gupta generously gave away her book to attendees of the event.
Another featured speaker at International Red Sneakers Day was Sonia Hunt. Sonia is a Health and Wellness Futurist, Keynote Speaker, and Certified Coach who eliminated a lifetime of chronic health conditions. She shares her journey to remission in her #1 Best-Selling book, NUT JOB, and her TEDx Talk (1M+ views).
The event featured many allergy-friendly vendors including: AllerGenis, Fresh Rx, Kaléo Pharmaceuticals, Keep Smilin 4 Abbie, Law Offices of Craig Goldenfarb, McLaren Palm Beach, Nicklaus Children’s Hospital, Partake Foods, and Tally Kids. These vendors were able to share their food allergy related mission with attendees and give out their Top 9 free products.
In addition to our vendors, we were also joined by 3 different food allergy authors! Riya Jain is in 11th grade in Chicago, IL. She co-authored 13 Can Words and all the books in The Class That Can: Staying Healthy series. Emily Duty, another featured author, is mom to two kids with food allergies. She has authored two books: Can You? A Food Allergy Story and How To Start a Food-Free Fun Club. Our third featured author was Micaá Thomas. Micaá was inspired by her niece with food allergies to write her book Penny and the Peanut. Each author held a story time with the children in attendance where they were able to read one of their featured books and teach them about food allergies.
International Red Sneakers Day was also supported by local West Palm Beach first responders, firefighters and the mounted police, and the Miami Heat! Thank you to everyone that attended, supported and donated their time to this event. We hope to see you next year!
