Camp Emerson Food Allergy Intern

My greatest summer adventure had to have been moving 14 hours away from Lexington, KY, to Hinsdale, MA, where I worked as the food allergy intern at Camp Emerson.

Camp Emerson is an overnight summer camp where children can stay for two, four, or up to six weeks. The entire camp is peanut, tree-nut, shellfish, and sesame free, but children with any kind of food allergies are welcome and well taken care of at Emerson.

After applying online over the winter of 2018, I received an email some weeks later saying that the camp owner was interested in speaking with me. Following my phone call with her, I spoke with the camp's dietitian, then the food allergy specialist. Overall, it seemed like such a great experience for me to further my dietetic-related work and increase my nutritional knowledge. After getting offered the job position, I could not believe that I was going to head completely alone to a state I had never been before for eight weeks. I am somewhat of an adventurous and relentless soul, so there I went, driving my 2004 Mazda Tribute northbound to a mysterious place. Little did I know that those camp grounds would change my life entirely in such a positive light.

I arrived to camp with a nervous heart, but excited to meet all the other staff. The first two weeks were based on staff training and getting to know one another. I worked with the food allergy specialist, who soon became one of my greatest friends. It was her third year working for Camp Emerson's food allergy program; She was and is a rockstar (and now a fantastic RD!)

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What I Did as the Food Allergy (FA) Intern:

• Within the food allergy side of the kitchen, we worked together on planning and meal preparation for 30% of the camp dealing with food allergies, including those with celiac disease and up to 23 anaphylactic allergies.

• I taught the entire camp staff of over 100 members on the inclusion and safety of food-allergic children in the camp environment, including lessons on how to use an EpiPen and how to react in a potentially life-threatening situation of a child going into anaphylactic shock.

• I was trained in cross-contamination safety while cooking and serving food in a cautious setting.

• I gained responsibility for consoling any camper who felt insecure or concerned with their allergies in relation to the meals he/she was being served.

• I read ingredients thoroughly and with grace to worried children while teaching them how to understand nutrition labels. I learned how to effectively resolve anxious situations.

• I researched countless brands' nutrition labels for purchasing allergy-friendly products specific to our campers' allergies. Camp Emerson is completely peanut, tree-nut, sesame, and shellfish free, so the entire kitchen excluded all products containing and/or processed with those ingredients.

The "food allergy window" was the coolest window at camp; it's where we served the food we made on the FA side of the kitchen. The FA kids were, how one could say, envied by all the other campers because of their "special treatment" as they liked to call it.

The window is where every child with an allergy gets their own personally plastic-wrapped plate with their name taped on top, as to avoid any confusion, food contamination, or any allergy-related dangers. The camper knew exactly what their plate was filled with and they knew it was safe for them to consume.

Besides cooking the food, I also made and decorated every single birthday cake that a camper had that summer. The campers sit in tables designated by cabins. So if one camper has a birthday, we would make a cake for that whole table so their entire cabin could get a slice. If one of those cabin mates had a food allergy, we wouldn't want them to feel excluded from eating the cake! Thus, I made every single birthday cake gluten, dairy, and egg-free.

Seeing the looks on those campers' faces when I brought their birthday cakes out may have been my absolute favorite moment; they were all so appreciative. It softened my heart.

I also decorated the massive theatre cakes for each biweekly Camper Musical performance. Those took hours to make, but the excitement on those kids' faces made it all worth it. (Allergy-free cakes of course).

Maura (FA Specialist) and I invited some of the staff to help us make gnocchi for Culture Night. After she had spent all day making GF, DF, egg-free potato gnocchi, we rallied up some counselors to help us make traditional gnocchi for the entire camp to eat for dinner. They were so helpful and did pretty well in the kitchen if you ask me!

The experiences I gained from Camp Emerson left their mark on me that will last my lifetime. I learned more there than I would have ever anticipated. I met the most loving, caring, gracious human beings I gained the privilege of calling my friends that live all over the world. I visited a dear friend in Dublin, Ireland, for two weeks that has now instilled a great love and want for traveling the world (which I hope to do for some years of my life)!

Taking care of those children and their food may not seem like the biggest job in the world, but it was to me. The campers that arrive at camp with food allergies arrive with much more than that; they come bearing anxieties about foods, eating, their health, and even anxiety about being accepted. I did my best to lessen those fears and help provide the most accepting and safe-feeling environment I could. I would've done anything for those kids. They taught me so much that I will hold in my heart forever.