Food allergies are on the rise, and many food-allergic reactions in children happen when they are with friends. What can you do to help an allergic friend?

The girl scouts in our Service Unit found out what to do when they attended the Be a PAL - Protect A Life Patch Program which was created by the Food Allergy Network and the Girl Scout Council of the Nation’s Capital. Nearly 50 girls gained a better understanding of food allergies while learning how to protect allergic friends from risky situations.

The patch program brochure provides basic information on food allergies and lists 20 activities. Junior Girl Scouts are required to do 5 activities, and Teen Girl Scouts should do 7. (I assume that Brownies could be expected to do 3 activities.)

We adapted the suggested activities so that 2 activities were covered as a large group, and then the girls were able to work in smaller groups through 5 centers.

The program opened with an introduction to food allergies and the patch program, and a reading by two older Girl Scouts of “Lisa’s Story” (from the program brochure) which illustrates how one friend protects another from allergic foods. This was followed with a presentation by Dr. Janet Claassen, of Certified Allergy & Asthma Consultants. Dr. Claassen discussed the symptoms and treatment of food allergies, as well as food allergy careers. The girls had many questions for the allergist, especially about the epiPen. [Activity 1, 12]

The girls then rotated through 5 centers:

1. Surprise Ingredients - Using food props (candy corn, salad dressing, pie crust) girls were shown how allergic ingredients such as nuts can be found in foods that one wouldn’t expect. [Activity 9]
2. Posters - Girls could choose to make a poster on a school allergy plan, allergy symptoms, or an ad for an allergist. [Activity 4, 6, 3]
3. Allergy Free Recipes - Girls sampled allergy-free snacks. [Activity 18]
4. Restaurant - Applebee’s Restaurant lent us several menus that the girls used to try to order meals while pretending to have a food allergy.
5. Grocery Store - A pretend grocery store was set up using empty food containers and the girls learned how to look for allergic ingredients on food labels.

This patch program could be used by any youth group, and the patches are available to order from the GSCNC Shop.

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