Teal pumpkins popping up in support of kids with food allergies this Halloween

For children with food allergies, Halloween can be heartbreaking, as friends head out for trick or treating and bags full of candy, while they’re left out of all the fun.

But this year, according to Food Allergy Research & Education, or FARE, there’s a new initiative, the Teal Pumpkin Project, taking off that aims to let all kids partake in the festivities — all they have to do is look out for teal pumpkins.

Houses that offer non-food treats on Halloween will be marked by a teal pumpkin outside.

“This campaign encourages people to raise awareness of food allergies by providing non-food treats for trick-or-treaters and painting a pumpkin teal – the color of food allergy awareness – to place in front of their house along with a free printable sign from FARE to indicate they have non-food treats available,” according to the FARE website. “The Teal Pumpkin Project is designed to promote safety, inclusion and respect of individuals managing food allergies – and to keep Halloween a fun, positive experience for all.”

Stacy Nespoli, an Aquebogue mom whose son Joey, 6, is allergic to peanuts, coconut, wheat and barley, proudly painted her pumpkin teal this year.

Her son, who is also autistic, was three years old, Nespoli said, when he was diagnosed. He’d been eating peanut butter and jelly crackers at Just Kids, where he went to school at the time — he’s now a first grader in the Aquebogue Elementary School — when Nespoli got a call from school administrators, telling her, “He isn’t himself today.”

Once home, her son’s breathing became more shallow, Nespoli said, and at first, she thought he might be asthmatic.

But, ultimately, her son was diagnosed as having food allergies, and was suffering from an anaphalactic reaction to peanuts,

According to the National Institute of Health,  “is a severe, whole-body allergic reaction to a chemical that has become an allergen.”

Since then, Nespoli said Joey has been diagnosed with allergies to wheat, barley and coconut, and she learned that even some school supplies are made with wheat.

That’s why, she said, a Halloween alternative is so important. Those painting their pumpkins teal will have non-food-related toys, such as bracelets, glow sticks, necklaces, pencils, crayons, markers, bubbles, Halloween erasers, whistles, spider rings, vampire fangs, playing cards, stickers and more to hand out.

The treats are also appropriate for children with Type 1 juvenile diabetes, who might not be able to trick-or-treat for candy.

Nespoli said while she’ll decorate the house on Halloween this Friday and have a costume for her son, she hopes to promote the Teal Pumpkin Project for all children in the community with food allergies, and has found support with the Aquebogue PTO, who’ve posted information on their Facebook page. Next year, she hopes to engage the whole community and school district in the effort.

And she’s not alone: FARE has parents across the country and the world working to raise awareness of food allergies, a growing problem that can even be deadly for those who are at risk for life-threatening anaphylaxis.

According to FARE, researchers estimate that up to 15 million Americans have food allergies; one in every 13 children under 18 years of age in the United States — or two in every classroom — are affected. And food allergies are on the rise, according to a study released in 2013 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that said food allergies among children increased approximately 50 percent between 1997 and 2011. Every three minutes, a food allergy sends someone to the emergency room — more than 200,000 emergency room visits per year.

Erin Kaelin, of Southold, said her daughter, Jocelyn, 8, was diagnosed with a peanut allergy at 18 months old.

Her little girl, she said, can’t touch peanuts, but she can touch the package, so they’ve gone trick or treating each year as normal and then, once home, Kaelin goes through the bag to remove any potentially dangerous treats.

“She can eat very little, maybe ten percent, of what she gets,” Kaelin said.

Last year, the family participated in a candy giveback organized by Southold mom Dina Reilly through employer, East End Orthodontics; Dr. Victor Grazina and Dr. Richard Bach sponsored the giveback, with funds raised going to East End  schools and the candy being sent to troops overseas.

But this year, Kaelin and her second daughter, Skylar, 3, who does not have a food allergy, happily painted teal pumpkins. “My daughter has been dealing with this for seven years, and she makes the best of it, but it does make her feel kind of badly to not to what the other kids do.”

On Halloween, Kaelin will hand out the usual candy without peanuts — and also, special treats for kids with food allergies, including Halloween-style erasers and vampire teeth.

The Teal Pumpkin Project, Kaelin said, also helps to raise awareness about food allergies. “There are some people who just roll their eyes and think that my daughter’s a picky eater,” she said. “They don’t understand that this can be fatal.”

As for Jocelyn, Kaelin said her daughter can’t wait to go trick or treating on Friday, heading for the houses with welcoming teal pumpkins outside. “She knows it’s safe, she can go there and there will be something she can walk away with — she feels like people understand, and she feels included. She feels special. It makes her happy that maybe they’ll be something at those houses that she can have. For an eight-year-old, trick or treating on Halloween is a big deal.”