Kids With Food Allergies (KFA) celebrated its 10th anniversary Saturday, May 30, with a concert by “Food Allergies Rock!” musician Kyle Dine and the unveiling of a specially commissioned glass tile mosaic to honor children with food allergies and their families.

The Pepco Edison Place Gallery will display the artwork through the summer.

The mosaic will then move to its permanent home in the corporate headquarters of the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA), the parent organization of KFA.

Talented student artists from the nonprofit organization Arts on the Block (AOB) created the mosaic. AOB trains young people to develop real-life career skills in the arts.

Inovalon, a cloud-based technology company that provides data insight to healthcare companies, generously sponsored the mosaic.

Lynda Mitchell (left) and Cary Sennett (right)

“We wanted it to feel uplifting and communicate the positive impact KFA has had on the lives of families with food allergies,” said Dr. Cary Sennett, President and CEO of AAFA.

KFA families from around the Washington, D.C., area came to the BlackRock Center for the Arts for the event, including one of the first families to join KFA, Laura Killoran and her 15-year-old son.

“KFA provides me with such a wealth of information to help our family manage our situation, which was quite bleak initially with regards to the insurmountable number of foods our son was allergic to as a baby,” she said. “I don’t believe we could have maneuvered this without them.”

Several people were honored for their many years of dedicated service:

• AAFA’s Senior Vice President of Community Services and Founder of KFA, Lynda Mitchell
• AAFA Board Chair Heidi Bayer
• Melanie Carver, Web and Community Director
• Michele Ann Cassalia, Corporate Relations Director
• Kathy Przywara, Assistant Community Manager
• Jen Blanford, a Volunteer Community Leader on KFA's Community