Our Mission and Purpose
POCHA of Will County was founded to provide support and information to members and to increase community awareness of food and advocate for change when necessary. In keeping with these goals, POCHA of Will County continues to provide information and support to its members, to raise community awareness of anaphylactic food allergies, and to advocate for changes in policies and laws as needed. POCHA of Will County focuses on practical ways of coping with food allergies and anaphylaxis in everyday life. Our meetings frequently include speakers and/or discussions on issues such as shopping and cooking, restaurants, family life, schools, preschools, travel, media, and legislation. POCHA of Will County is not in the business of providing medical advice. Please consult a qualified medical provider for medical advice pertaining to your own particular situation. 

About POCHA of Will County
POCHA of Will County is a support and advocacy group affiliated with Children’s Memorial Hospital’s Department of Allergy in Chicago, Illinois, a non-profit organization. We invite you to attend our meetings in Joliet, Illinois, a Southwestern Suburb of Chicago. Our meeting dates and locations are located under our “Meetings and Events” tab. POCHA of Will County includes members from the Plainfield/Joliet area (Will County), which is very broad, along with Kendall County, Grundy County, Kankakee County, LaSalle County, and other Chicagoland areas that wish to participate in our meetings.

Former Governor and Mrs. Blagojevich, who have a daughter with food allergies, have helped Illinois to be the first state in the nation to have the FAAN Educational Programs available for free to all schools, preschools/daycare centers. To get a school binder for your school or school district go to www.foodallergy.org

Help to increase federal funding by sending in your letter:
Recently, members of The Food Allergy Project had the opportunity to meet with Dr. Tony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), the division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that currently conducts a small amount of food allergy research. As you know, the mission of The Food Allergy Project is to increase the federal funding dedicated to food allergy research, and the NIH is the government’s leading medical research institution.

Dr. Fauci was generous with his time and shared our view that food allergy is a critical issue in need of more fundamental research. We will continue to advocate before the U.S. Congress to increase NIH funding for food allergy so that Dr. Fauci and his colleagues can dedicate more resources to food allergy.

Click here for the Food Allergy Project Letter to Dr. Fauci. We are encouraging supporters of food allergy research to send this letter to Dr. Fauci to thank him for taking the time to learn more about food allergy, and to illustrate the effect that living with food allergies is having on so many families across the country.  You can also read a letter submitted by myself, Eleanor Garrow-Majka, and my family's experiences.

You should feel free to edit this letter to include information about your personal experiences with food allergy and how it affects your life. The letter can either be emailed to: af10r@nih.gov or mail in a hard copy to the address on the letter. Please cc: your emailed letter to FoodAllergyInfo@FoodAllergyProject.org so they can keep track of letters sent.

Thank you very much for your continued support.

Sincerely,
Eleanor Garrow-Majka