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About Us

Our Mission:

Camp Celiac is committed to providing an exciting and adventurous week of camp while maintaining a totally gluten free diet for campers ages 8-16. The camp provides a safe environment to build long-lasting relationships and celebrates the joy of living life gluten free.

What is Camp Celiac?

Camp Celiac is a one-week summer camp for approximately 145 children and youth with Celiac Disease, ages 8-16. It is located at the site of Camp Aldersgate in beautiful North Scituate, Rhode Island. The property is situated on 280 acres of woods, fields, and trails, and includes a lake, waterfront cabins, woodside cabins, dining hall, solar bathhouse, a retreat center (including a great hall, sleeping areas, and four lavatories with showers), and a health lodge.

Camp Celiac and Camp Aldersgate have developed layers of safety measures over the years to ensure a safe gluten-free environment. Camp Celiac provides two full time, registered nurses who handle all non-emergency medical needs, including administering medications. Emergency medical transportation is available within seven to ten minutes.

Camp Celiac is a camp for children with Celiac Disease.  We are not staffed to handle other complex medical issues (such as Type 1 Diabetes). Please contact us by email at info@campceliac.org, prior to registering, as we may or may not be able to accept your camper. Please also note that the only additional food allergy we can accommodate is lactose-free.  We are unable to accommodate dairy free or nut free campers.

The goal of Camp Celiac is to provide a healthy and nurturing environment for children with a focus on Celiac Disease specifically. While we at Camp Celiac would like to care for as many children as possible, we are not staffed or trained to handle significant physical, emotional, or behavioral issues that would detract from providing care to our population as a whole. This is a volunteer-staffed camp and our staffing resources are not at the appropriate level to best care for a child with significant issues. Please use your best judgment to determine if Camp Celiac is the right environment to meet your child’s needs. Camp Celiac is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization run entirely by volunteers. Investment in time and resources has already been made before camp starts, so if you are asked to pick up your child during camp week, your camper’s tuition will not be refunded.

Camp activities

We definitely keep our campers busy having fun!  Our days are broken into many programming periods with most being by age group, but many involve all of us playing together.  Activities are typically overseen by Camp Aldersgate staff and our volunteers. We get to know each other with interactive name games, and do lots of team building and group initiatives, leading to working as small teams on the low ropes course.

The campers learn to get along with new people, make new friends, and solve questions as a group.  We have arts and crafts, nature hikes, scavenger hunts, field games, swimming, canoeing, sports and lots of singing at mealtime and around the campfire.  The older campers can use the zipline and high ropes, and participate in the Survivor Challenge.  Survivor gets the younger campers involved as they cheer on their favorite team, watching the lake relays and the scavenger hunts.  Camp Celiac’s Survivor Challenge has become a favorite camp tradition among all the age groups! Most years we have guest speakers, such as Native American Indians from Rhode Island, story tellers/singers, and chefs to give gluten-free cooking demonstrations, which usually end with a snack that the campers helped prepare.  And let’s not forget the dance!  We have a DJ who plays all the newest songs and the camper’s favorite dance tunes.  Every year, a local gluten-free bakery ships in wonderful desserts to be enjoyed by all.  The annual camp dance on Wednesday night has been a favorite tradition.

Camp History

Camp Celiac was started in July of 2000 as a weekend sleep-away camp for children with Celiac Disease. That weekend, fifty-two children were in attendance. The camp was so successful that the children begged for more, and thus Camp Celiac developed into a five-day sleep away camp catering entirely to the needs of the gluten-free diet. We typically have 170 campers and staff  coming from across the United States and abroad, having represented over 20 states, Canada, Israel, Sweden, Germany, Australia, and Italy.

Where is camp located?

Camp Celiac uses the facilities of Camp Aldersgate, located in N. Scituate, Rhode Island, for one week each year. Camp Aldersgate is a United Methodist Camp site, an American Camping Association Accredited Camp, and a member of the Rhode Island Association of Camps. With over 280 acres of woods and trails, a lake for swimming and boating, a Retreat Center, dining hall and many cabins, it is a perfect site to have fun, make new friends, and not worry about food! Camp Aldersgate offers many of its own summer camps, but once a year, they close down to all but Camp Celiac, so we can maintain a gluten-free site for our campers. Camp Celiac has been partnering with the wonderful leadership and staff at Camp Aldersgate since 2000!

Do you want to mail a letter to your camper?
Camp Aldersgate/Camp Celiac
Campers First and Last Name
1043 Snake Hill Road
N. Scituate, RI 02857