How do you plan to honor National Infertility Awareness Week (NIAW)? Here at Fertility Solutions, we do our best to spread the word and encourage our patients and their families to do the same.
This year, NIAW 2021 takes place from April 18 through April 24. The event is sponsored by RESOLVE and has been going strong since 1989! That’s more than 40 years of hard work, and it has had a positive impact on getting the word about infertility to the public and helping to promote legislation that improves fertility treatment coverage through health insurance policies.
Tell Your Story to Spread Awareness About Infertility
What do you want people to know about infertility? “What I Want You To Know,” is this year’s NIAW theme (#WhatIWantYouToKnow), and there are so many ways to get involved.
Participate in or organize a DIY Walk of Hope
NIAW’s Walks of Hope are a powerful way to make a statement and connect with others who understand the journey. They are an inspiring way to surround yourself with infertility support. Currently, there are a few Walks of Hope scheduled on the east coast (Raleigh, NC, New Jersey, and Connecticut).
It might be time to take a road trip OR to start a Walk of Hope in your community. Visit the Walk of Hope page to learn more.
Help to raise donations
If you’re in the midst of fertility treatments, donating may not be an option for you (although never forget that every $1 counts!). Instead, RESOLVE makes it easy to fundraise and encourage others to donate.
The easiest is to post donation links on your social media pages. Other ideas include:
- Asking friends and family to make donations in lieu of birthday and holiday presents
- Host a virtual event
- See if your favorite instructor (yoga, spinning, art) or restaurant will participate in a donation-based class or event where the proceeds (or a percentage of the proceeds) go to NIAW’s cause
Here’s more information on How to Put the Fun in Fundraise.
Volunteer your time to the cause
Whether the NIAW week dates work for you or not, you can always volunteer for the cause. As one testimonial on the Volunteer Page says, “Volunteering has been a huge part of my healing, and it has introduced me to amazing people and given me incredible opportunities to make infertility a little bit less lonely for others…” It’s another way to show support, and gain support, around such an important cause.
Dedicate social media channels to NIAW
The NIAW’s Get Social pageshares many ways you can use social media networks to exponentially spread awareness around infertility and the one-in-eight people it affects. You can do something as simple as use one of their easy-to-integrate logos.
If you want to share a louder broadcast, feel free to use this opportunity to share your own story or use this list of infertility facts to get accurate information into the public realm. They also provide tips and information on how to participate in NIAW’s 5 Day Photo Challenge, which includes a different theme for all five days. It’s a fun way for artists and creatives to share their story or the impact a loved one’s fertility had on them.
We also invite you to visit our blog, How to Help Friends and Family Struggling with Infertility. Those and other suggestions might be worth sharing with the general public, who often don’t know how to respond to their loved ones’ plight.
Wear orange to don your advocacy
RESOLVE has chosen orange as the symbolic NIAW color because:
The color orange promotes a sense of wellness, emotional energy to be shared: compassion, passion, and warmth. Helps to recover from disappointments, a wounded heart, or a blow to one’s pride. Studies show that orange can create a heightened sense of activity, increased socialization, boost in aspiration, contentment, assurance, confidence and understanding.
Donning orange clothing or accessories is a great way to show you are in solidarity with the NIAW movement.
Don’t have much orange in the closet? Scroll down the Get Social page, you can see all of the fashionable merchandise RESOLVE offers to help spread the word.
Speaking of advocacy…
RESOLVE has an established relationship with state governments, so most governors are happy to release public proclamations about NIAW. However, if you have an inside line to local government or public figures, follow the instructions on the Proclamation Project page to help validate one of the goals of National Infertility Awareness Week—changing the conversation around infertility and family building.
The team of physicians and staff at Fertility Solutions will be doing all we can to contribute to and support the NIAW cause. We dedicate our lives to supporting and sharing our amazing patients’ stories.
