More About Workcamps

A Workcamp lasts one week and involves up to 500 youth and their adult leaders. Together, their efforts represent as many as 12,000 hours of labor invested in your community. Workcamp participants give freely of their hard work and time in return for the opportunity to grow in their faith. These teenagers experience new places, cultures and situations that take them outside their traditional comfort zone; many use the experience to fulfill the community service requirements needed for graduation in many school districts. Workcamps help teenagers develop a variety of character-building qualities, including an attitude of servanthood, an appreciation for the value of sacrifice, and greater personal and physical confidence. Each "work crew" consists of four or five teenagers and one or two adult sponsors. Participants are carefully assigned to work crews based on their age, gender and skills. Adult sponsors must be age 21 or older. Senior High Workcamps are designed for students ages 14 to 19. Junior/Senior High Workcamps are geared to students ages 12 to 19. Young adult Workcamps bring 19-29 year-olds to the community. The Workcamp participants are housed in a local school or similar lodging facility. Group Workcamps Foundation contracts with the facility to provide food and custodial services for the week. Group Workcamps Foundation carries insurance and liability coverage for participants and Group Workcamps Foundation staff, as well as workers’ compensation insurance for Group Workcamps Foundation staff. Group Workcamps Foundation requires all of the teenagers to participate in well-planned evening programs that cap the day’s activities and put the whole experience into perspective. Free time is limited. An average of 65 to 70 projects are selected and evaluated by the local Cosponsor, with guidance from Group Workcamps Foundation Project Managers. The Cosponsor also oversees the purchase and delivery of materials to each work site. All hand tools are supplied by Group Workcamps Foundation and particpants; the local Cosponsor helps provide ladders and other specialized tools. Workcamp participants provide their own transportation to the work sites, which must be located within 30 minutes of their lodging.