We were so excited for the Turn it Teal movement to finally reach Colorado in 2019!
We first discovered Stephanie Lowe’s Turn it Teal for Food Allergies movement in 2016. That was when we first learned that we could submit ideas, anyway. We’d seen that Niagara Falls had lit up teal the year before, but didn’t know who was behind it. But when we learned that she wanted ideas, we eagerly wrote her a list of Colorado buildings that might participate.
Since that first introduction, we had the honor of meeting Stephanie several times at FABlogCon. She’s truly an amazing and inspirational woman, and we feel lucky to count her as a friend! We’ve also watched the Turn it Teal movement grow every year–but each time, no Colorado buildings participated.
A little history of Turn it Teal
It all began in 2014, when Stephanie noticed the Terminal Tower in Cleveland, Ohio, lit up for a cause. She asked if they would light up teal for Food Allergy Awareness, and to her delight, they did! Thus, the Turn it Teal movement was born.
Each year, Stephanie has made it her goal to get “just one more” site than the previous year. She managed that in 2015, when three sites lit up. But after that is when it really took off.
In 2016, with the suggestions of food allergy advocates all around the U.S., Turn it Teal turned 25 buildings teal! It also expanded beyond the U.S., with a few lightings in Canada! Again, this is when we first “met” Stephanie, and suggested several Colorado buildings.
In 2017, the Turn It Teal Movement took a giant leap and got 46 buildings to light up! Not only did Canada participate in 2017, Australia did too! This was an exciting time for the food allergy community, as momentum and awareness really began to grow!
Last year in 2018, Stephanie one again outdid herself and convinced a whopping 58 buildings to turn teal for Food Allergy Awareness! National food allergy organizations like FAACT stepped up to help fund some of them, too (some charge to light up.) And Jordan joined Canada and Australia is spreading Turn it Teal across the globe! Despite the fact that we were still unable to visit one in person, we love cheering Stephanie on in this bright endeavor!
Throughout all this time, hubby has been doing some homework, trying to find “the right people” to talk to about lightings at Colorado locations. We visited the Broncos training facility to learn who would be in charge of our football stadium, and he’s sent some emails, too. We were sad that nobody had hopped on board yet.
The Present
Fast forward finally to the end of 2018 at the Food Allergy Bloggers Conference, when we happily met Stephanie in person once again. She told us that she may finally have a Colorado building willing to light up teal! We were so excited to finally share in the Turn it Teal movement!
And sure enough, the D&F Clock Tower on 16th Street Mall lit up Teal for Food Allergies this year! Scheduling was a little confusing (they started lighting up in April) but it was still so exciting to have a building lit up teal for food allergies in our own backyard! 2019 was a great year for Colorado, since we also received an Official Proclamation of Food Allergy Awareness Week from Governor Jared Polis!
It’s exciting to see the Turn it Teal movement continue to grow! Not only did Colorado finally participate, but Ireland and the UK also joined the list of participating countries!
Where will this expand to next year?!!
It made for a late night, but we had a lot of fun heading downtown with our children and sharing this great movement with them. We were so happy that Turn it Teal made it to Colorado for 2019. As Food Allergy Month draws to a close, we want to thank Stephanie Lowe for all her hard work! She truly has shone a light on Food Allergies with Turn it Teal!
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