Our work program, in which our whole community participates, encourages a spirit both of self-sufficiency and of interdependence. Work can provide a chance to learn skills, to gain confidence, to get to know someone better, to take pleasure in completing a task with care, and to feel pride in knowing that one’s own contribution will benefit many.
Daily Chores
Every week, campers are assigned to a specific chore or job, with children’s interests and abilities in mind. They complete the work in small groups, with a supervising counselor. Campers have the opportunity to rotate through a variety of chores over the course of the summer. Early morning jobs include barn chores and garden harvest. Campers feed and care for the barn animals — chickens, horses, pigs, sheep, and more — and in the gardens, they harvest greens, herbs, and veggies for the day’s meals. Afternoon chores cover a wide range of jobs: picking fresh flowers for the dining room tables; gathering wood for the evening campfire; tidying and sweeping the crafts shops; putting away camping equipment or repairing a canoe.
Community Mornings
One morning each week is set aside for an all-camp community chore. Perhaps the annual flower bed needs to be weeded, a trail or pasture requires maintenance, firewood needs to be stacked, or an invasive species eradicated. As with other jobs, campers gain a sense of accomplishment from taking on real responsibility and shared work.
Community Projects
Frequently children also participate in summer-long community projects. Years later, Camp alumni remember these community projects with satisfaction and pride. In the past, campers have:
- built a new kayak in the woodshop
- planted trees on the property
- knitted hats to donate to newborns
- grown vegetables for our local food pantry