The CYE Summer Camp is the oldest and one of the most important projects of the Coeliac Youth of Europe. CYE considers the role of youths absolutely essential in raising awareness, connecting communities, and advocating for people with coeliac disease worldwide.
The CYE Summer Camp reaches across borders to help involve young people in the coeliac movement as well as ensure continuity throughout generations of the AOECS member associations. CYE truly believes that youths are not only the leaders of tomorrow, but they already drive today’s innovative approaches to coping with coeliac disease.
Summer Camp History
The history of CYE Summer Camps goes back to 1999, when this initiative started with the first camp held in Hungary. It was an attempt to bring a group of young coeliacs together to help create a powerful and international youth community. The participants were able to connect and learn about their condition as well as empowerment of others to fight together for a better life for people living with coeliac disease.
Since then, CYE has organized a summer camp in a different country every year, gathering a lot of young people living with coeliac disease aged between 18 and 30, from many different countries across the world. They have had the opportunity to share ideas and experiences, improve their knowledge, learn from one another, and strengthen their skills in a fun and international environment.
The participants enjoy a full week of activities, meeting other coeliacs from around Europe and most importantly forget about their daily struggles with coeliac disease and the gluten free diet. Experiencing a CYE Summer Camp helps young coeliacs realise that they are not on their own facing the same problems on a daily basis. It can also serve as a pathway to be more involved in CYE and AOECS member associations.
- Find out more about our past Summer Camps
- Some things to consider when hosting this event
- Follow our dedicated CYE Summer Camp Facebook page
The possible outcomes of hosting a Summer Camp
CYE Summer Camps usually receive many applications from coeliacs all over Europe to be part of each camp. It’s a challenging and an exciting experience for AOECS Member Associations to host the camp.
The CYE Summer Camp is a unique opportunity to raise awareness locally because societies can stay in touch with local councils and companies. Hosting the camp can also result in new restaurants that are interested in joining other projects developed by the Coeliac Associations, such as the Eating Out programmes. It also helps to develop a close relationship with the national youth group and the national society.
Helping out future organisers
In order to support future organisers of this event, there is a working group with organisers of previous camps focused on keeping in touch with the organisers and help with any issues they may have.
Thanks to the support of AOECS member societies, the enthusiasm and energy of the participants, and the support for youth communities to be able to host such an event, 20 years on this exciting project is still alive.