April 18, 2012

Outreach

This image totally belongs to Resolve.org, not me

This coming Sunday starts National Infertility Awareness Week (NIAW). I have been waiting for this week since I first learned about it last Fall. As I said in my last post, I feel very protective of our community and am looking forward to sharing information and making people aware of us and our struggles. "Don't ignore this week!" the Resolve.org website says - and I will not. The theme this year is "Don't ignore infertility", and with 1 in 8 couples facing some form of infertility, no one can afford to ignore it! Whether people know it or not, someone in their life is dealing with infertility. Awareness can help make life a tiny bit easier for those of us fighting the good fight.

I've bookmarked several websites with ideas for outreach on Facebook. I want to post at least 1, if not more, NIAW related item every day. I'm saving the photo project entries at The Ladies in Waiting Book Club to share. I got a great idea from fellow blogger KrunchyK, at returntogobaby.com, to make friendship bracelets out of embroidery floss in Infertility Awareness Red (technically pomegranite, #814) - I want to make one for my sister, my mom, and myself to wear all next week. At church on Sunday, I'll put a special prayer request in for all people battling infertility. Hopefully I'll think of a few more ideas before next week. I might make some NIAW related blog posts (kind of feels like preaching to the choir, since anyone already reading here is *aware* of infertility, but maybe I can encourage others to speak out).

So what are you doing to observe National Infertility Awareness Week? Any creative ideas on how to inform the public about the truths of Infertility? Do you have concerns about speaking out - such as fear of judgement, retribution, or just ignorant people totally misunderstanding? Also, no judgement here if anyone is not actively participating in NIAW - I completely understand that there are situations that can be made worse by speaking out, and that is a damn shame.

2 comments:

  1. I'm not on facebok, but my husband is going to post some infertility related things on his wall and link it to our blog, where I'll be writing more about infertility. (It's usually just more about our life and waiting for our adoption match.) I like all your ideas! I'm really excited about the week too as it's my first NIAW since our diagnosis. I'll be interested to see what other ideas others post here and see what all I can do to spread awareness (and sensitivity!)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've been planning to ask for monetary donation from my work to support Resolve. I'm pretty sure this will be accepted considering I have some pull with the boss (he's my father). Because of me, his life has been impacted by infertility. He has struggled with the insurance laws (or lack thereof) for infertility coverage in NH and has been appalled by the situation. I'm also headed to a Resolve support group meeting next week and finally, I'm planning on asking the receptionists at my RE's office if I can help in any way (donate time, etc).

    ReplyDelete