An amazing teenager earned her Gold Award by creating a Girl Scout Food Allergy Education program and patch. Here is how your troop can earn it.
I was seventeen when I discovered that I was allergic to clams. I was at my friend’s Sweet 16 party at an Italian restaurant, and a few hours later, my lips were swollen. It was the only new food I had tried, and with a history of seafood allergies with both of my parents, I never tried clams again. As I got older, I had reactions to other shellfish, so that food is not a part of my diet.
As a child, I had no friends with any of the common food allergies we see today. In fact, I never had a student with a food allergy until my fifth year as a classroom teacher, back in the early 90’s. I had a boy with a nut allergy. It was not common and I did not see many students who had food allergies until the mid 2000’s.
Over the years, the number of children with food allergies and what they are allergic to has increased dramatically. I have seen this in my classrooms. For the past dozen or so years, I have had a few children in a single class with food restrictions due to allergies, and many have had multiple foods they cannot eat. While some are easy to avoid, like mango, others, like eggs or nuts are not.
There are also levels of sensitivity to be aware of as well. Some children can have foods that have been manufactured in a factory that has nuts while others cannot.
If you have a loved one with a food allergy or have one yourself, you know that navigating situations that involve food can be tricky.
A Girl Scout Gold Award recipient created a website and patch program to help with food allergy education.
Food Allergy Education Program and Patch
While this is not a website created by a medical professional, it was made by a Gold Award scout who has a family member with life threatening allergies. It contains a lot of information, as well as the steps to complete to order the patch. The program is free, the patch is not.
You can find the Food Allergy Education patch program here. There are a limited number available for each level, as of this writing. If they are sold out, you can ask when they will be restocked. This patch site is really incredible.
If you know of any other online Girl Scout Gold Award or Silver Award patch programs, please email me at leadershipmadesimple@hotmail.com
