Thank you for your interest in joining us as a volunteer this summer. Ghormley operates in the summer in large part because many people volunteer their time. Camp can’t happen without these people!
PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU MUST BE 16 YEARS OLD TO VOLUNTEER FOR A MIDDLE SCHOOL or ADVENTURE CAMP. 14 or 15 year olds may volunteer for up to two weeks of Primary or Junior Camp sessions.
If you are High School student who is 16 or entering your Jr. Year, we encourage you to consider applying to be part of our new HS Leadership Development program, called Shift.
If you are not accepted into the Shift program or are not able to apply, we still have need of volunteers. Please see below to see how you might serve us.
TYPES OF VOLUNTEERS
- Counselors (must be 18 to counsel!)
- Program Staff (Help w/ behind the scenes details)
- Lifeguards (must be certified prior to coming)
There are two type of volunteers in the summer:
Individual Volunteers
An individual volunteer is anyone who is not coming with a larger group, such as a church or ministry team. This is most everyone who serves here. In order to serve as a volunteer, you must be at least 14 years of age. There is an application that must be filled out before being accepted as a volunteer. It will give you a detailed breakdown of what you can help with, based on your age. It also lists the dates for each camp session.
In order to be considered, you need to submit three things: (1) A Volunteer Application and (2) a Background Check Form. (3) If you have never volunteered, you’ll also need to have three people submit References. You can send them the link address to the right. Once those are submitted, we’ll contact you and determine what the best fit might be for you to assist us. Please be aware that we do turn down applicants if their references or application indicate to us that they may not be ready for a responsibility such as this.
A note to parents: If you are a parent of a child and want to volunteer while they are here, please contact our Program Director before applying. There are special considerations that need to be made in these cases.
Church Staff Volunteers
We also have churches who choose to bring a group of kids to camp for a week. In these cases, the contact person for your church group needs to contact our Program Coordinator ahead of time and let us know how many kids you expect to bring and how many staff you expect to bring. We will group your church together so you can have the best experience possible with your kids. Volunteers with a church must fill out the volunteer application, as there is a specific form just for church volunteers.
A note on church staff being counselors: One of the most asked questions from a church group is this: How old do my counselors have to be to counsel our church kids? Our policy is this: If you would trust them in your church setting to oversee your kids, and you believe they’d do a good job as a counselor, feel free to bring them. If you trust them with your kids, so do we. They do need to pass a background check, which will be part of the application process.
Please see our page specifically for youth pastors for more information on youth group and youth leader involvement in summer camp: Information for Youth Pastors
We look forward to having your help this summer! You are a vital part of our ministry being a success!
