Sabrina DeVos, a Girl Scout from Ithaca, New York, has suffered from celiac disease for 11 years, so she understands what it means to live with a gluten intolerance, which makes everyday activities such as eating out at restaurants or going to a friend’s house for dinner very difficult.
Sabrina
experienced her first gluten-free camp at the age of eight, but unfortunately, she
had to travel over eight hours to get there. She loved her camping experience
so much that she wanted a closer option—but also wanted to make sure other local
kids with celiac disease could have access to the same amazing experience she had.
Being a Girl
Scout, Sabrina decided to take action. For her Girl Scout Gold Award project,
she developed and executed a gluten-free camp close to her home exclusively for
children with celiac disease, and now for the second straight summer, she’s
helping to run it.
Sabrina’s
camp has garnered much local media attention, as around 30 children
between the ages of 8 and 15 attended the camp at Comstock in Ithaca last year.
This year she's hoping to double that number, expanding the offering to boys
and girls between the ages of 7 and 16.
Sabrina
credits Girl Scouts as a factor in her success. “As a Girl Scout, I’ve gained
leadership and organizational skills, and feel I now have the tools to organize
this great experience.”
When you
invest in Girl Scouts, you support girls like Sabrina who have great ideas for
helping people and who need our support to develop the courage, confidence, and
character to bring their ideas to life.
This is why Girl
Scouts has launched the ToGetHerThere campaign, the largest fundraising
campaign for girls in history—to help ensure that girls like Sabrina can dream
big, follow their passions, and reach their greatest potential, all while improving
their communities and making the world at large a better place.
Learn more about Sabrina's camp here.
Learn more about Sabrina's camp here.