HOLTS SUMMIT - A local Girl Scout recently earned recognition for the youth celiac support group she founded.
Logan Huckstep, a Holts Summit resident who recently graduated from Helias Catholic High School, is one of only 16 Girl Scouts in the Missouri Heartland region to receive a Gold Award this year.
"I'm pretty honored," she said.
The Girl Scout Gold Award is the highest honor a Girl Scout can earn. Girls must choose an issue in their community, create a plan to fix that issue, and then take action to complete their project. Each project must be sustainable for many years to come, showing Girl Scouts not only work to empower themselves and each other but to also make the world a better place for those around them, according to a press release.
"There are bronze, silver and gold awards," Huckstep explained. "For each, you have to do something to help other people. For this one, you need to show you can make sustainable impact in community, that's going to help people for a long time. That's a big commitment right here."
Founding a support group for children and teens living with celiac disease was a natural choice. Huckstep has celiac. When those who have celiac ingest a food containing gluten - a protein found in wheat, barley and rye - it triggers their immune system and causes a painful intestinal reaction.
"When I was younger, I felt really alone, like no one gets what I'm going through."
She couldn't share snacks with other students or eat most cafeteria food. Peers called her the "veggie kid." A Girl Scout since kindergarten, she couldn't even eat the cookies she sold. (Girl Scouts now does offer gluten free cookies, to her delight.)
"When you're a kid, you go to a birthday party and everyone's having cupcakes, and you're the one kid who brings veggies for lunch," Huckstep said. "When you get older, people think you're doing it as a diet fad."
But celiac is no fad - when left untreated and unmanaged, it can cause everything from diarrhea to skin rashes to infertility to cancer in the digestive system. Even a small amount of gluten can cause intestinal damage and pain.
She had to learn how to manage her own symptoms and explain her dietary requirements to others. Through a support group, she realized, she could pass that knowledge along and also provide an outlet for youths with celiac to share their concerns and challenges. As for sustainability, another Girl Scout will take over leadership of the group now that Huckstep has graduated and will be heading off to Springfield to attend Missouri State University.
Huckstep promoted the group through word of mouth, by posting on the "JC MO Gluten Free Support Group" Facebook page and by putting up flyers in grocery stores and elsewhere around town. The group launched in May 2019 with about a half-dozen young attendees between the ages 7-17, plus their families.
Huckstep listened with sympathy as attendees shared difficulties.
"I thought my symptoms are bad, but this one girl, her hands would swell up, and she'd cry because none of her friends wanted to be around her," she said.
During a typical meeting, attendees might share stories about life with celiac disease, make cards explaining celiac to pass out to friends and family members or swap celiac-friendly recipes.
"One of the other girls in my group, another Girl Scout, her mom said she really enjoyed recipes and she brought the cards to school to pass out," Huckstep said.
The project helped her foster public speaking and team-building skills.
"I've learned a lot through Girl Scouts," she added. "I've gotten to try different fields, learn outdoor skills, go to STEM days. I've learned how to make friends and be nice to people. I learned how to be more open with people."
Local families with children who might be interested in joining the support group should watch the "JC MO Gluten Free Support Group," Huckstep said. The group has been on pause during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, but someone will post to the Facebook page when it resumes.