220 children, aged 9-17 over the course of 10 days.
138 acres.
600 grilled cheese sandwiches.
30 lbs of pancake mix.
600 s’mores.
No wheat. No flour. No gluten.
Jackie Corley has been organizing Camp Celiac at Camp Arroyo since it opened 5 years ago, in 2006, helping with staffing, registration and scheduling. That first year, besides campers, they had to invite siblings and parents to make the minimum of 70 people to have use of Camp Arroyo in Livermore, California. This year, there were two back to back sessions of camp to accommodate all of the requests, about 220 children.
Camp Celiac was founded by The Taylor Family Foundation. Elaine Taylor, President and co-founder of the foundation, who has had Celiac Disease (CD) since 2001, wanted to start a camp for children with CD so that the kids could feel “normal”. Many children who have CD do not want to go to overnight camp or even sleepovers because they fear they might get sick; it makes them nervous. Taylor wanted children to be able to experience what other children experience, except without any fear of becoming ill from a speck of flour or a crumb of bread. In 2005, Taylor was looking for someone to start it up. Dr. Mel Heyman, a pediatric gastroenterologist at UCSF, introduced them. It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
At the time, Corley’s son was 8 years old. He was diagnosed with CD when he was 3 because he wasn’t growing. Within a week of being on a gluten-free diet, he improved. When Taylor approached her, she decided to do it. The Taylor Family Foundation funds the whole camp. Corley said “What a gift being offered to these children; how could I say no? “
For the first four years, the camp session was one week. Last year, Corley had to turn away 60 children which broke her heart. She tried to give priority to those children who had never come but there were many who were just itching to return. Now with two sessions, everyone is happy. Of the 120 in camp this past week, there were 80 new kids; this week all are returning campers.
While the kids are here, activities include a challenge/rope course, soccer/team sports, camp olympics, arts and crafts, swimming pool, archery, talent share, skit night, scavenger hunt, and an all camp dance. It’s a real camp with one big difference. It’s the only camp in California that they will be safe from gluten. Even those children who are dairy intolerant, can also be accommodated.
Sure, activities are fun. But this camp is all about the food and the standards are high. On the menu this week: grilled cheese, ravioli, hamburgers with Canyon Bakehouse rolls, and hot dogs on Udi’s rolls. Lasagna is the camp highlight. A typical breakfast includes pancakes, oatmeal, bacon, sausage, fruit, eggs, and various breads.
Nicole Lucia is making sure the campers get their meals. She is the Food Services Director of the YMCA East Bay and chef at Camp Arroyo. She cooks here for the whole summer. She and her staff have been trained in gluten-free cooking and baking; it’s much easier than it was in the beginning. “We’ve come a long way” say Lucia. "The first year, it was all scratch baking and it was hard to find gluten-free items. It was hard to find products that were edible. Now the quality is so much better”. Thanks to donations from companies like Air Chilled Chicken, Boar’s Head, Bob’s Red Mill, Canyon Bake House, Dr. Schar, French Meadow Bakery, Iamori Ravioli, Jones Dairy Farm, Kettle Cuisine, Mariposa Baking Company, Miglet’s Gluten Free Bakery, Nature’s Paths Foods, RW Garcia, and Udi’s Foods and many others, the camp runs mostly on donations and volunteers.
Lucia says cooking gluten-free was not hard for her to learn but the baking was a big leap. She has a pastry background and found she couldn’t use traditional baking methods. Luckily, Taylor knew how to work with the products and showed her. Taylor still plans the camp menu.
Camp Celiac has a big impact on the children. This past week, when one camper arrived, she had tears in her eyes, nervous about spending a week away from home. Some have had bad experiences with other camps or sleepovers; this situation can make them anxious. Later in the week, this camper asked “If I you have a space, can I stay another week? “ When Corley called her house to ask about the extension, the girl’s mom was speechless. She expected the call to be “Come pick up your daughter” but that was not the case. Another 9 year old girl asked what was for lunch and Lucia responded with “Pizza”. The girl asked “Can I eat it? I can’t have gluten.” Lucia answered with “You can eat anything here”. The girl almost started crying.
The kids just love it and can’t wait to come back. They communicate with Taylor on Facebook and tell her “how many more days till camp starting with 364 days to go.”
Most parents whose children have CD don’t want their kids to feel like this is a burden; they don’t want them to feel different. Corley says “The first year Richard Bernstein (who does not have CD) was camp director, two children said to him ‘We love you but we wish you had Celiac’. To me it epitomizes why we do the camp. They wanted him to be one of them. The nice thing is that almost everyone, including counselors, has Celiac. Young adults volunteer to help out and take a week out of their vacation to help the camp run.” One of the original campers, Lovlean Purewal, will be a junior at UCLA. She returned this year as an intern and helped to run the food program of the camp.
The camp, which is free to attend, has become popular through word of mouth as well as through the website; there is no need to advertise. When a child is diagnosed with CD, often the parent does research on the web about the disease. This is how they find out about Camp Celiac.
One 17 year old from Michigan was diagnosed 2 months ago. Here she was, new to the disease and ready to go off to college. After her mom found out about the camp, she signed her up as a junior counselor. Another 17 year old, from Washington state, is here this week. He had been sick for years and was just diagnosed in January. His dad called to sign him up, hoping to help his son feel more comfortable with his new way of life. The son was having a hard time with the diet but is now coming to terms with the changes he must make.
The camp isn’t here to educate children but to offer support which happens naturally. Some children did not accept their diagnosis until coming to camp. Now, after being around others like themselves, they realized they can do it and that they are not alone. At this camp, the conversations are a bit different. They might include: “How do you deal with it? What do you eat? Which restaurants do you go to?”.
One other benefit of Camp Celiac is dessert, something many people with CD have to live without. Elaine’s daughter, Katie, is the owner of Miglet’s Cupcake Shop, a Gluten-Free Bakery and Grocery Market in Danville. This week, Miglet’s donated graham crackers, regular and vegan cupcakes and six different flavored “birthday” cakes so that everyone could celebrate their special day, regardless of when it fell in the year. When your child comes to Camp Celiac, besides leaving with a belly full of delicious food, they also leave with fond memories and friendships with other children who are “just like them”.
To get more information about the camp and how to sign up for next year, visit The Taylor Family Foundation website.
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