Careful Mom,
I would love to respond via email rather than clog up this thread, but your email isn't listed, so please forgive me everyone.
Sorry if I generalized to all brain disorders if that was not your meaning. This is a sensitive spot right now - watching my friend deteriorate has been very painful, and I have felt utterly helpless.
That being said, through our local Special Ed PTA I have met many parents whose children have such awful, awful problems associated with ADD and other LDs that they think PA is a walk in the park. One of my friend's son has ADD/ODD and Tourettes and was just kicked out of an alternative high school. He is in constant trouble, despite his hight IQ and basically very sweet nature. Her panic over her son's future is no less real, and no less justified than our panic over our children's PA. Personally, I wish there was enough $ to go around to fund all worthwhile causes, but of course there isn't. As personal as PA is to me, I could never say PA is more worthy than the organizations she relies on. The consequences of her son's problems are not only devastating to him, but to everyone who deals with him on a close, personal basis.
Again, my apologies to all for clogging this thread! [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/redface.gif[/img]
Amy

I have to agree with Sue in Sunny Arizona, I mailed $40 Canadian a couple of weeks ago to support peanutallergy.com. Of course the $25 American is $40 Canadian so to me a stay at home mom that isn't pocket change. I really love this web-site and believe in supporting it because it has helped me a lot.
I can go on and on why I like this site but I think everyone probably loves it for all the same reasons as I do.
I also want to add, sometimes what we may type to say comes out differently than what we mean. Maybe, if before we take it the wrong way we write to ask the sender of the post for clarification.
God, I know debate is good, but sometimes it really pisses me off when we beat each other up over stupid, misconstrued words.

I work for a non-profit (as a fundraiser) in this same area of the country, and neither their salaries nor the portion of the budget represented by salaries struck me as at all odd. They are both completely in line with what I'm used to seeing. Salaries are almost always the largest portion of any budget. Also, contributed income generally accounts for about half of an organization's budget. The rest comes from earned income and investment income for the most part (although that varies from organization to organization, and I don't know if FAAN has an endowment to supply investment income).
As for the feeling that it's weird that our $30 donations help pay those salaries--well, where else do you expect the salaries to be paid from? I'm glad that my salary is paid by the donors who give $5 and the government grants that give us hundreds of thousands annually--and I'm glad that my work helps pay for my colleagues' salaries with the $3 million I raise annually from foundations and governments. If an organization does good work, pays reasonable salaries, and doesn't run an annual operating deficit, I'm happy to contribute.
Sarah

I've been thinking about this issue for several days now. At first, I was startled to think that my donations to FAAN are going straight into Ann's salary. But, the more I think about it (and certainly from reading the post just above mine) I don't have a problem with it AT ALL. I have gotten so many incredible resources from FAAN. Way before there was a PA.COM, I was relying on FAAN as my only source of information for how to deal with such serious food allergies. Even now, I devour my FAAN newsletter, always looking for some new information. I believe that FAAN has tremendous credibility with the media, schools, and just about anywhere else where I would want to see correct information getting out. I have been a member of FAAN for six years, and I try to send an extra donation every year, too. These boards serve a wonderful purpose, too. And yes, there are things that I wish FAAN would do a better job with. One of those things is that I wish they would take a stand for a peanut ban in schools. Even so, I feel that they are a first class organization doing an incredible job. I am glad that Ann earns a good salary. I don't feel that she should have to scrimp and save to get by just because she has decided to devote her wonderful talents and energies towards helping our kids! I'm sorry if I sound a little too passionate about this, it's just that after taking the time to think about it I realize I do want to share my feelings on the subject. Also, I agree with FAAN's stance on labeling. I don't like to see things labeled "may contain peanuts" just because a peanut may have entered the building, for example. I want to see companies make a real effort to produce safe products, and to be held accountable for doing so. I want products labeled as a risk if there really is a risk. I find it very upsetting that so many products are off limits to my daughter because of the "may contain" situation. In fact, this is easily one of my biggest frustrations with her allergies.
Also, I'd like to lend my support to Cayley's mom and anyone else dealing with ADD or ADHD, as well as any other problem. It's easy for us to feel like PA is the end of the world, but there are many other problems out there which are just as difficult (and many which are surely more difficult) than PA. I've had concerns about my own (PA) daughter's social adjustment and school behavior. I truly think that if I could choose between a socially and acedemically successful pa child and a non pa child who has lots of problems caused by ADD, I think I would choose the first. Of course, I know this is not a fair choice, and these things are not either/or. I'm just using it as an example. PA is very stressful, but things could be MUCH worse.