July 20, 2007
Oakland, CA – It seems to me that every year the National NAAFA Convention continues to get better and better. It's not easy to choose just one or two things that make it such a special event to attend. Perhaps it's the openness of the people that attend that binds you together for years to come. Maybe it's the security of knowing that it's a safe haven for people of size where you can truly be yourself without even the thought of NOT being accepted because of your size. Or it could be that you learn more about yourself and others like you, which makes you more confident and helps you more clearly understand what you can do to help build confidence in others. Whatever the reason for you as an individual, NAAFA has been providing a place for each of us to "blossom" into the beautiful people we are, no matter what our size.
Once a year NAAFA holds a national convention, which in addition to being a social and educational function, serves as a fund raiser so that this essential organization can continue to thrive. Through this fund raising event and the ongoing donations of people with vision, NAAFA continues to fight to end discrimination against people of size! Each year the annual convention is held in a different city around the country. This year we came together in the Chicago area at the O'Hare Crowne Plaza in Rosemont, IL from July 10-15, 2007.
For the very first time, NAAFA held a concurrent conference with the Association for Size Diversity and Health! ASDAH is an international professional organization started in 2003 and composed of individual and organizational members who are committed to the principles of Health at Every Size (HAES). ASDAH promotes education, research, and the provision of services that enhance health and well-being, and which are free from weight-based assumptions and weight discrimination. This combined convention allowed us to have some of the best workshops ever. There truly was something for everyone.
We were so blessed to have brilliant luncheon speeches from awesome women in the size acceptance movement like Lily O'Hara, a professor at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia and Deb Burgard, Clinical Psychologist, author and Childhood Eating Disorders Specialist. These wonderful women are incredibly inspiring. And Lily won the free package for next year so now she has to come back!
During our convention, we were saddened to receive a call from a mother in the southwest whose child was removed from her home because the child is fat. Happily the child was returned home but only because the proper procedures had not been followed before authorities came and "legally abducted" this child. This reinforced the importance of the work we are doing with NAAFA and ASDAH. It drove home the importance of the FLARE fund which supports legal assistance for people who need our help.
Now please don't entertain the misconception that because NAAFAns are advocates and activists that we don't know how to party. That could not be further from the truth! The convention began with a fantastic tour of Chicago and our "trolley car" driver turned out to be an admirer of big women. How lucky could we get? Every year the "early bird tour" is incredible. If you've never taken one, be sure to try it next year when we go to Los Angeles! The rest of the week included swim parties, luncheons, dances, a grand Saturday night dinner, a vendor fair and a nightly hospitality suite where we could relax, play games and make new friends.
The Event Coordinators, Carla DenHartog and Cecilia Morreo, and the hospitality coordinator, Diana Morreo, along with a multitude of selfless, hard working volunteers did an outstanding job. My heartfelt thanks to every person that contributed their time and energy toward making the convention a "huge" success (pun intended). See you all next year in Los Angeles, CA, July 9-13, 2008.
We Come In All Sizes...
Understand it.
Support it.
Accept it.
Founded in 1969, the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance is a non-profit human rights organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for fat people. NAAFA works to eliminate discrimination based on body size and provide fat people with the tools for self-empowerment through public education, advocacy, and member support.
On the web: http://www.naafa.org
For more information contact:
Peggy Howell, Public Relations Chairman
National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA)
e-mail: naafa_pr@yahoo.com phone: (707)246-6116