Showing posts with label Camp Prep. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Camp Prep. Show all posts
Here's EVERYTHING You Need to Get Started in YoungLives!
Feeling confused about where to find a YoungLives resource? Can't remember where you found that helpful handbook or video? Look no further - here are links to many of the essential YoungLives tools for camping, mentor training, discipleship, childcare, staff training, supervisor training, and pretty much anything you could possibly need.
Thanking Childcare Volunteers
Looking for fun ways to thank your regular or camp childcare volunteers? Here are five fun ideas:
- Pocket tissue packs with a tag that says "Your service is nothing to sneeze at"
- Travel mugs filled with little goodies like nail polish, Starbucks via packs, tissues, chapstick, gum, and a thank-you card.
- Thank you cards written by teen moms.
- Washcloths or water bottles with a tag that says "He who refreshes others will himself be refreshed"
- An enlarged picture of the teen moms and babies in your group, in a simple frame (think Dollar Tree!) decorated by a teen mom.
C.A.M.P. Sign
Looking for a visual way to have girls commit to going to camp? A couple of the greater Grand Rapids Coordinators started using the C.A.M.P. poster at each club. "C" stands for commitment, "A" for acts (girls perform service projects to earn credit towards camp), "M" for camp payment, "P" for paperwork (usually done in the form of a paper party where everyone gathers to complete paperwork in one location.) This is a great way to keep putting camp in front of girls, and for them to see who else is signed up!
Thanks Sarah, Jenny, Missy, and Kendahl for sharing this idea!
Year Round Camping Plan
Preparing a Year-Long Camping Strategy
As you prepare to take teen moms to camp, use this helpful outline to see what you can be doing every month to prepare in steps. Listen here to Megan McCormack (YoungLives Coordinator in Fredericksburg, VA) as she explains this year-long strategy. (This plan is based on camping in July. You will need to adjust it based on the month you camp in the summer.)
Young Life Camp and Social Media
Whether you're at camp right now, or anticipating a trip in the upcoming weeks, it's important to think about how you're engaging your community via social media. Check out this video discussing YL Camp and the use of social media!
Personalized Tote Bags
Looking for a great year-end mentor gift? Something for your donors? The perfect camp accessory? Or something for all of the above? Check out the personalized tote bags from the Wedding Chicks. At just $10 a bag (or less if you order more than 20), you can personalize them for your region or area. Pick the colors and design that you like best. These bags make a great gift & an awesome way to represent YoungLives in your community!
Summer Childcare Opportunity
Each summer we need hundreds of volunteers to help make YoungLives camps happen across the country. We've created this short video to help you recruit these amazing people. Here are some ideas... show it to Young Life leaders, committee folks, small groups, churches, share on Facebook, Twitter and your own blog/website if you have one. Let's spread the word!
As always, more details about this ministry opportunity can be found on younglife.org.
Life After the New Believer's Walk
We just finished an incredible summer of YoungLives camps across the county. It was our first time ever having six exclusive YoungLives weeks which is certainly something to celebrate! At camp we saw many teen moms take steps on the New Believer's Walk... crossing the bridge from death to LIFE.
So you're home from camp. Now what? The reality is that many of our teenage friends are going back to the same home situation but they are NOT THE SAME. Praise God! We have the amazing opportunity & privilege to do life with them back home and show them what a relationship with Christ looks like.
I wanted to remind you of some great blog posts that are available to help you!
Training Mentors for Camp
Baby Registry for Camp
Did you know that YoungLives Camps have a baby registry for people who want to help in some way? Pass this registry link on to family and friends so we can get our camps ready for girls and babies this summer! Who doesn't like purchasing baby gifts?
How's Your Attitude: Camp Childcare Recruiting
All right? Question...and be honest with yourself.....How is your attitude about recruiting childcare volunteers for camp?Are you ignoring it for now because you have no idea who to ask?
Do you have a full list of people that you have thought of, but whom you have not asked because you are pretty sure they won't be able to take a week off and/or pay the camp fee?
Are you so busy with teen moms, babies and mentors that you have not even thought about camp childcare?
Having helped recruited and tracked over 1500 childcare volunteers in the last four years, every year I feel a little guilty as we head into camp. These childcare volunteers are taking precious time to come to camp. They, many times, are laying out their hard-earned cash to come. AND the clincher.... they have no idea how tough a week it can be!
Lately however, I have been convicted that I (maybe we?) do not need to feel guilty. Every year at the end of the camp week, I see childcare volunteers who are so grateful they got to be a part of camp. They are grateful they got to see Jesus change the lives of teen moms and their children. AND the clincher, they are grateful because they encountered Jesus in their own faith journey in a new and exciting way....in a way that could ONLY happen at YoungLives camp as a childcare volunteer.
So as we ask childcare volunteers to come with us to camp, let us rejoice and look forward to how He is going to work!
Camp Childcare QR Code
Have you seen those little black-and-white, pixelated boxes everywhere? Kinda like this one?
Well...for the less-than-tech-saavy, those little boxes are a scannable image that holds an embedded weblink. And...the one above is our very own!! Made just for advertising Camp Childcare!! So feel free to download that image, copy and paste it, scan it from your phone....just PASS IT ON!
Well...for the less-than-tech-saavy, those little boxes are a scannable image that holds an embedded weblink. And...the one above is our very own!! Made just for advertising Camp Childcare!! So feel free to download that image, copy and paste it, scan it from your phone....just PASS IT ON!
Training YoungLives Mentors for Camp
Curious how to train and prepare your mentors for YoungLives camp? Lisa Brown led a recent conference call on how to do just that! Listen to the conference call and follow along with the supplemental documents below.
Conference Call Recording
Supplemental Documents
Camp Trip Leader Prep
Leading a YoungLives camp trip this summer? Looking for some expert advice? Emilie Schreiber walks you through everything from transportation to scholarships and childcare in this podcast!
Best Rest of Their Lives
We put a lot of energy, effort and prayer into getting girls onto that bus or van headed to camp to have the best week of their lives. It is important that we NOT neglect the other side of the trip...the what happens when they step off that bus or van to head home after the best week of their lives. We want to make sure that we are leading them into the best rest of their lives!
Erin Kennedy, Midwestern Divisional Coordinator, recently shared some great ideas in a Camp Follow Up Podcast. Also Erin shares a training document called "Following Up After the Best Week of Their Lives." If you have thoughts or questions, please feel free to contact Erin.
Also available is a previous post shared by Jen Byard about the Second Best Week of Their Lives.
Whatever you do please make sure your camp planning includes the time after camp!
Everything You Need to Know: Camp Trip Leading
Lindsey Patchell (Southern Division Coordinator) recently shared her wisdom on camp trip leading in a podcast with lots of great hints, ideas and tips!Download the YoungLives Camp Trip Leading podcast now! Also download the YoungLives Trip Leader Training document that has a lot of the information Lindsey covers in the podcast.
Check out the YoungLives Camp Trip Leader Checklist...it has the links and details for all the documents, dollars and deadlines involved in leading a camp trip.
Check out the Camp Trip Leader Packet that has lots of information for camp consolidated in one place (this is more detailed than the checklist above).
YoungLives Camp Promo
Game Show Run On and Camp Sell
One Spring as a camp sell, we did game shows! One of our mentors dressed up as a goofy game show host every club and led a different game show. Prizes: scholarship money for camp!! (all prizes are non-transferable, non-negotiable).We did old favorites like Price is Right and Wheel of Fortune as well as fad hits like Deal or No Deal and 1 vs. 100. Other ideas include (but are not limited to): Family Feud (play mentors against teen moms), Jeopardy, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?
Our game show host used a wacky suit jacket, bow tie and classy wig from Goodwill for her costume. For game show ideas check your local tv listings or do some research on youtube.com. Just type in the name of the game show you are looking for in the search window.
All the girls and mentors had a blast playing...and winning!
Applebee's Pancake Breakfast
This fundraiser is a great way for girls to earn money for camp. In our town they offer this fundraiser every Saturday for a variety of organizations so it's important to get on their calendar! Applebee's fundraisers are scheduled only on Saturdays from 8:00-10:00AM on a first come first served basis. Applebee's provides pancakes, syrup, butter, sausage links, tea, coffee, juice, sodas, china, silverware, cups, and napkins and we are responsible for selling tickets, greeting, serving, and cleaning up after the guests.Our girls serve the food to the guests and bus the tables. We also recruit 4-5 volunteers to cook. We sell tickets for $10/ea and this includes breakfast and a car wash. We have guests drop off their keys before they come eat and we recruit current YL college leaders to run the car wash. Applebee's asks for you to pay them a flat rate to cover the cost of the food. Contact the Manager at your Applebee's today and see if they offer the pancake breakfast fundraiser and to get on their calendar. It's an early morning (usually need to be at Applebee's by 7:30) but we've found that the girls have a blast look forward to it each year. As far as childcare see if there is nearby church that will allow you to use their nursery for a few hours.
You can always add on to this event by having a silent auction, sell extra YLVS t-shirts...and to earn a little extra money you can put tip jars on the tables! - LIsa Brown, Tallahassee, FL
Camp Trip Skit
This was one of the most helpful things preparing for camp. We had each mentor bring a baby doll and set up a "bus" on stage. We had one mentor in charge of the trip. Each mentor had one trait they had to over-emphasize. One asked for help with her baby then fell into the deepest sleep ever and refused to wake up. Then the baby had multiple issues... One mentor put on her head phones and just let the baby lay in her lap while people around her were telling her - your baby just threw up... One mentor attempted to take care of everyone's baby and disciplined another one of the dolls. Another one kept talking and talking and talking and interrupting every time instruction was being given and when asked to be quieter or please sit down she got a huge attitude with the leader and started shaking the head, snapping the fingers and threatening to beat her down.... Then we pretended to arrive at the airport and the leader ran out screaming. We used this (oh yeah - one mentor only wore a sports bra and short shorts) to illustrate our expectations of camp - the dos and don'ts. The girls laughed, but they got it.
Shared by Dusty Linn-Conway, AR
Shared by Dusty Linn-Conway, AR
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