Advocacy, Part 2

It has been a while since I last posted; "busy" would be an understatement. However, now that summer has started, I've had some time to settle down and reflect on the past few months, and am now writing about the single most important event that happened all year: the 2023 Courage at Congress FARE Legislative event. In my last post, I detailed the logic behind advocacy, along with some of its key pillars, and in these next few posts, I now present a practical outworking of those principles.

From March 26th-March 28th, the nation's largest food allergy lobbying event took place, led by FARE, Food Allergy Research and Education, the organization that spearheads all matters pertaining to allergies on a national level. This organization conducts the largest volume of allergy-related research in the country, and establishes the national standard for food allergy education and awareness. I have the privilege of being a representative Advocate for FARE, and one of the duties of this role is to actively engage in legislative advocacy for individuals with food allergies at the governmental level.

Truth be told, it was a tense time, due to the fact that those 3 days clashed with a couple other crucial events I had to attend, including state level examinations and ongoing coursework at school. Despite this, I took extra effort to carve out these 3 days for this event that I was passionate about, by registering for this event 2 months ahead of time, which brings me to the first take-away from this experience: to be an effective advocate, you must carve out the time to do so. You may have an amazing story, and you may have the capacity to convey that story in a moving way, but if you cannot arrange time for yourself to do so in the midst of a busy schedule, it is of no use. Sacrifices may have to be made, as was the case for myself in the form of time spent furthering other personal endeavors, but the reality was that for me, none of my other pursuits offered a more personal link to who I am compared to this event. So, if you are passionate about an issue, you will MAKE the time to go and pursue it, no matter the time, place, or cost. And what you will find is that passion, or that willingness to give up something for a cause, is the only requisite for being an advocate. The other factors, such as expenditure, time, and eloquence, are developed after passion through further experience, but with them come means of aid through various organizations supporting your cause, regardless of whether you are a first-time advocate or if you have been engaging in representation for quite some time. In my case, even though I was a relatively new advocate for allergies, FARE paid for the entirety of my trip to DC, including board, flight, and local transportation because I reached out to them and explained to their staff my earnestness towards this cause in spite of the clashing circumstances initially hindering me. After hearing my story, they graciously extended the aid that was needed to facilitate my advocacy at the capital that year. So when engaging in advocacy, be sure to make your earnestness meaningful by carving out the time to express it well before the event takes place.

In the next article, I will write more about my experiences at the fly-in, with the focus being placed on the narrative that is crucial to advocacy. Stay tuned.