Suggestions for Health Fair Volunteers

• Be prompt and dress appropriately for the setting. You may be providing someone’s first impression of FA.
• Have two people standing behind the table. Please do not stand in front of the table or around the area passing out tri-folds in a promotional way.
• Try to make eye contact and offer tri-fold brochures to those passing by. You can say something like: “Do you know anyone who might be struggling with food issues?”
• Take your pictures with you, but don’t display them on the table. Have them available to show anyone who might be interested.
• Schedule three people per shift if possible. Have two people at the table at all times. Scheduling three people, especially during periods when fellows usually eat (lunch and dinner time), will enable everyone to eat away from the FA table.
• Convey interest in the event and the other vendors. Scheduling the third person also makes this possible. Visiting other vendors and talking with the event’s hosts may lead to follow up opportunities. If they show interest, FA can sponsor racks of trifolds , provide other literature including the FA book, and make panel and/or slide presentations. Organizations can also post the FA website link as a resource on their websites.
• Keep these Traditions in mind as you deal with the public:
• Tradition Three – The only requirement for FA membership is a desire to stop eating addictively. When talking with non-FA members, communicate that FA is for anyone who is addicted to food, not just the overweight. Food addiction manifests itself in many ways, not just obesity.
• Tradition Five – Each group has but one primary purpose: to carry its message to the food addict who still suffers. We try to convey the message of recovery in everything we do.
• Tradition Ten – Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the FA name ought never be drawn into public controversy. We do not express opinions on controversial issues (politics, other food programs, specific food plans, causes of obesity, etc.). We avoid terminology that conveys affiliation between and any particular religion or other organization.
• Tradition Eleven – Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, and films. We listen with warmth and interest, and we speak from our own experience, not presenting as experts nor sharing our professional identities. We are not giving advice or trying to “sell” the program.
• Tradition Twelve – Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our Traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities. When speaking with groups, whether FA or non-FA groups, none of us represents FA as a whole. We are only sharing our own stories and experiences.