The Heart of a Volunteer

It is likely not a surprise to too many people that Camp relies on volunteers. It's true, we do have paid positions, however, so much of the work that we are able to accomplish each season is through our countless volunteers.

Our volunteers come from all over and serve in many different ways. We generally have four types of volunteers that join us in our ministry work.

The Marathoners - These are the volunteers who are typically retired and are able to give anywhere from four weeks to five months of time to camp. We have one retired couple coming to join us next month (Helmut and Doris) whose son was the Head Wrangler back in the 1990s. They will pull their RV in next month and stay with us nearly to the end of the summer. In addition to being our staff's adoptive grandparents for the next five months, Helmut will help with the grass cutting, maintenance, and feeding chores. Doris will help with our laundry, flowers, and a bit of assistance in the kitchen.

The Up-and-comers - These ones are the young and super enthusiastic high school students who are able to give us one to two months and are typically our 15-17 year old High School students. These young people serve as Jr. Cabin Leaders, Support Staff, Pit Crew Team Leaders, and kitchen staff. Each week we see 10-15 of these young volunteers working to make camp possible for kids. These kids are the ones who have committed to working at camp when they were Sparkies.

The Lifers - This particular group of volunteers are our nurses, parents who volunteer in the kitchen while their kids are in camp (and they keep volunteering each summer...even if their kids don't need them there anymore), staff alumni donating a week of their time, and church members who are able to donate a week of their summer to camp work. They fill in the gaps in our staffing schedule. These volunteers seem to show up every year because "camp is in their blood". Just breathing camp air seems to make the world a better place. Some of us will always be a Lifer.

Weekend Warriors -  This last group of volunteers very well might show up in one of the first three groups. These are our volunteers that continue to donate their time throughout the year. They know that just because September has started, camp doesn't end. We will see a lot of our Weekend Warriors once a month to once every couple of months helping in the kitchen or even on activities once they've been trained.

Our Volunteers become family. They're SO important to what we do here at Evergreen. In fact, in the summer we have 56 volunteers to 39 paid staff. We literally cannot do our ministry without volunteers. The majority of our volunteers support our staff in the kitchen, on grounds and maintenance, the horse barn, and as camp medics or nurses.

The big question we have for you is...would YOU volunteer with us? Could you fit into one of the above categories? Could you be a Weekend Warrior? Maybe you're a Lifer? Or you have an Up-and-Comer who would really benefit from a summer at camp...or maybe, just maybe, God has freed you up to be a Marathoner.

Signing up as a Volunteer for Evergreen is simple. The first step is to fill out our short volunteer application. If you're wanting to lead in a cabin or be in a teaching position, you should contact me (courtney@camp-evergreen.com) for what your first steps are.

See you this summer!
Jogee