Volunteer Opportunities at Brethren Woods

A Health Form will be available online soon to complete electronically prior to arrival.

Do you have a desire to share God's love with children and youth? Do you want to be a part of God's mission at camp? They you're are in the right place! Brethren Woods counts on Christian servant leaders like you to help camp run smoothly each year. Summer volunteers usually serve for a week at a time, but longer or shorter options are also available. Year-round volunteer opportunities vary from a few hours to a day/weekend/week or more. Below are job descriptions for summer volunteer positions.  You can click on each of them to get a more in-depth description of each job.

2024 Training Information

Staff Training is an important part of preparing for your role at camp. While attendance is not mandatory for volunteers (except Jr. Staff Training), we strongly encourage everyone to attend, even if you have volunteered before. Please make every effort to attend one or more of the applicable training options available.

  • Dean Orientation/Training – TBA
  • Jr. Staff Training – May 10th-12th 2024
  • Volunteer Training - TBD
  • Health Manager Orientation/Training – Saturday, June 1st

To assist with our planning, lodging, and meal logistics, please RSVP for any of these training events at least one week ahead of time.

Counselors
Counselors are the hands and feet of Jesus at camp. They spend more time than any other staff members with the campers. Counselors accompany their campers through the daily activities including: Morning Watch, Bible, games & outdoor recreation, swimming, meals (including cookouts), and Vespers services, as well as during the night in cabins or hogans. Counselors are committed Christians who are eager to grow in their relationship with Christ and serve as role models to younger disciples. Counselors must be high school graduates.

Dean
Deans serve as camp’s spiritual leaders, organizing and implementing daily Bible studies for each assigned camper family group, as well as Morning Watch and evening Vespers worship times.  Deans also provide pastoral care and support for the camp community.

Health Manager
Weekly Health Managers serve as the primary medical person in charge of health care for all campers and staff members.  Duties include reviewing health forms, overseeing health screenings, distributing medications, daily health checks, and responding to illnesses and injuries.

Kitchen Assistants
Brethren Woods is known for its tasty food and friendly service! If you enjoy food preparation, clean-up, and helping to share this joy with others, then a summer in the camp kitchen is the perfect job for you! Each summer we hire several staff to help out in the kitchen. Kitchen assistants are part of the ministry and serve as Christian role models not only through the integrity of their work in the kitchen, but in their interactions with other staff, counselors, and campers.

Support Staff
Support Staff have servants' hearts, a flexible attitude, and a willingness to help out wherever is needed. Support Staff are encouraging, fun, and hard working. Typical duties include helping with camper registration, working in the camp store, cleaning buildings around camp, setting up for worship services, serving as a resource person to camper groups, planning all camp activities with the support staff team, and much more!

Year-Round Volunteer Opportunities

Outdoor School Station Leaders 
Every fall and spring Brethren Woods welcomes hundreds of students for mid-week field trips. This ministry thrives on volunteers willing to lead an activity! Lesson plans and materials are all provided.  You just need to be willing to lead a 30 minute activity several times to different groups of students, along with their teachers and chaperones for support. The time frame for volunteers for most trips is approximately 9:30am-12:00pm.  Contact Pieter Tramper at adventure@brethrenwoods.org to get more information and sign-up to help!

Seasonal Workdays: Fall, Spring, and Winter!


There are always indoor and outdoor projects at our seasonal workdays. Chopping wood, cleaning buildings, and stuffing newsletters are common workday activities. We often have special projects around camp to work on at workdays too! We encourage individuals, families, youth groups, Sunday school classes, small groups, and others to consider spending one or more of these workdays with us.  Workdays are a great chance for youth to earn community service hours and provide an awesome service project for groups.

Winter workday: TBA
Spring workday: TBA
Fall workday: TBA

Workdays start with coffee and donuts at 8am and end around 3pm.  A hot, delicious lunch is always included around 12pm.  Please be sure to call (540-269-2741) or sign up online ahead of time so that we can be ready for you!

Helping Hands Workdays - Third Tuesday of Each Month

Camp's ministry happens all throughout the year, so we need volunteer help every month to keep up with our grounds, facilities, and programs.  You can join us every month on the third Tuesday for our Helping Hands Workday.  There are always indoor and outdoor projects available for all kinds of skills, so there's sure to be something that's just right for you!  Just let us know what you're interested in when you call ahead to sign-up.  This workday is perfect for retired folks, homeschool families, or others with flexible weekdays.  See you there!