Briarwood’s Summer Day Camp Program
For a copy of the Day Camp contract between your congregation and Briarwood click here.
What is Day Camp?
Day camp combines Briarwood’s outdoor ministry program with your congregational youth ministry program for a week long session of Christian fellowship and fun. Briarwood will provide program, a trained counseling staff, an original Christian curriculum for Bible Study, art supplies, games, music, and more. The congregation provides the meeting space, adult volunteers, resources from the community, and room and board for the staff.
What is the Purpose of Day Camp?
Day Camp provides congregations with a quality Christian outdoor ministry experience which has a strong evangelism component. The evangelical outreach to the surrounding community is a major reason that Day Camping is so important. The strength of the Day Camp is the people: trained, enthusiastic and offering good Christian role models for your young people. It is our hope that in this partnership between local congregations and Camp Briarwood, a Christian community will be formed in God’s Direction and Presence.
Day Camp may be used for a community outreach program to include children from the neighborhood, friends of members, or combined with the youth from another Christian congregation. Often congregations will choose to work with a neighboring church to host Day Camp. This partnership disperses cost, increases the number of volunteers, adds resources, and increases the number of youth that participate.
What is the Benefit to Your Congregation?
- A strong, highly visible evangelism program within your community that welcomes young families and youth into the life of your church.
- Bonding between adults, older youth, and campers that will build relationships within your congregation and community long after Day Camp closes.
- Good public relations in the community, as you are helping provide a service which many youth and parents will appreciate.
- Strengthening as a congregation as you work together to prepare, plan and execute the program.
How Many Children Do We Need to Have a Day Camp?
Briarwood is offering day camp packages to accommodate different amounts of campers from 24 to 60 children. If you anticipate significantly less than 24 campers you may want to consider partnering with another congregation. If you anticipate more than 60 campers, special arrangements need to be made with the Briarwood Program Director. Cost breakdowns for each package is listed in the Day Camp Booklet, available from the Briarwood office.
What if We Don’t Have a Lot of Land at Our Church?
Briarwood counselors and programs are flexible. Many of the activities can happen indoors using the fellowship hall and classrooms, for outside activities a nearby park can work well. Day Camp can include field trips to area attractions, but it is easier to keep things within walking distance.
How Many People Do We Need to Involve to Host a Day Camp?
It is highly recommended that one member of the congregation assume the role of Local Day Camp Coordinator. This coordinator will act as the bridge between Briarwood and the host congregation. The coordinator will recruit other volunteers to help fulfill all of the local responsibilities. Some other volunteer positions will include Host Families, Registrar, Kitchen Helpers, and Junior Counselors. The short answer is more people willing to help the more successful your Day Camp is likely to be. A detailed list of volunteer positions is available in Briarwood’s Day Camp Booklet available from the Briarwood office.
How Many People will Camp Briarwood Send to our Day Camp?
This number depends on what size of group you contract with us. The Briarwood Day Camp staff generally includes a Day Camp Team Coordinator and then one staff counselor for every 12 campers. For example, a day camp package for 36 children will include one coordinator and three counselors. This team will include both male and female counselors. The congregation should try to recruit at least one Junior Counselor (J.C.) for every twelve campers as well. The pairing of a Briarwood staff and J.C. will provide the 1 to 6 ratio that is recommended for campers in this age group.
Who Participates in Day Camp?
The day camp program is geared for young children, typically children ages 4-10. It is not recommended that children younger than 4 come to Day Camp. Our experience has shown that these children need an extra measure of time and patience that is not possible using our staff to camper ratio. Additionally, our staff has not had specific training for this age group and the program activities are geared for children a little older in age.
Older youth may participate as Junior Counselors; these J.C.’s will serve as the right and left hand of the Briarwood staff member. Junior Counselors may be anyone who has completed 6th grade or above, but older youth (High School) or young adults are preferred. These J.C.’s are in a unique position to work with the campers. Their existing relationship with the campers is especially helpful early on in the week as the campers and counselors are getting to know one another. They will act as an extra sets of eyes and ears. It allows them to grow in their own faith and act as a servant of the Lord. The relationships that they have built on will allow them to remain a positive role model in their congregations after the Day Camp program is over.
Enrolling campers with special needs in Day Camp is encouraged and can be a wonderful experience for both the child with special needs and for all campers as we live out a Christian community. Youth who have special needs might be developmentally disabled, have behavioral problems, or come from a group home or foster care. One volunteer from the congregation is needed for each child who has special needs. It is important to remember the camp staff are caring Christians, who generally are college students; however they are not professionally trained in behavioral disorders. Christian love and concern will go a long way, but careful discretion should be used by the local coordinator in deciding whether Day Camp will be beneficial for the special needs child and the camp as a whole.
Will T-Shirts and Cuppies be Available this Year?
YES!!!!! Briarwood is including T-shirts with the yearly logo on them along with a Briarwood logo plastic mug called a “cuppie.” Each camper and volunteer will receive these items as part of the package. These shirts will come in both youth and adult sizes. Size requests should be taken as campers pre-register; and the T-Shirts will be available on Sunday when the Briarwood team arrives. Congregations may order extra T-shirts or cuppies if they wish for additional charge.
Does Camp Briarwood Provide Insurance for Day Camp?
While accident and illness insurance is not provided by Camp Briarwood, Camp Briarwood is covered for the liability of its staff. Sponsoring congregations should consider providing coverage for their campers. All campers must have a completed Registration Form with emergency information on file in order to attend Day Camp. This form should include camper insurance information. Parents are asked to use their family policy as the primary carrier to satisfy all claims.
Can Briarwood Staff Provide Transportation to Campers?
Briarwood provides transportation for its team only. Our insurance restricts any transport of campers. If a field trip is planned during your day camp, local transportation arrangements will need to be made. If possible schedule field trips that may be reached by walking or bringing outside activities to your location.
How Much Does a Day Camp Cost?
The day camp cost is dependant on the package that you choose. There are packages for up to: 24, 36, 48, or 60 campers. Special arrangements will need to be made for camps larger than 60 campers. This allows your congregation to choose a package that will best fit your needs. We understand the difficulty in estimating the number of campers that will attend, but it is necessary. Too small a package and campers may be turned away Too big and you’re paying for more than you need. It is recommended that you choose a package that you can be confident will fill up. It may be possible to upsize your package if your pre-registration is filling up quickly. A limited number of additional campers may be accepted above the contracted amount at an additional cost, this is at the discretion of the Briarwood Team Coordinator and Local Day Camp Coordinator. The cost of Day Camps are based on Briarwood’s expenditures and the breakdown is shown in the Day Camp booklet available from the Briarwood office.
A day camp team includes one Day Camp Team Coordinator who will oversee the counseling staff while on location. This coordinator will assist with registration, prep and clean up activities, provide coverage while other counselors are busy, provide an extra set of hands whenever needed, and run the staff meetings. Along with the coordinator Briarwood provides one counselor for every twelve children. We hire the number of summer counselors needed partially based on the number of counselors requested for Day Camp.
How Can We Lower the Cost to our Congregation?
If you feel that your congregation cannot afford to host a camp there are some options to lessen the burden. Congregations may team up with another church, ELCA or not, to split the cost. The price per camper decreases with larger packages. A congregation may ask for participant families to contribute some of the cost. This gives some ownership and provides a more accurate picture for pre-registration. Contributions may come in the form of volunteering to help run the camp instead of financial. Some churches may seek outside funding from the community, Thrivent, or grants targeted towards helping children. Briarwood will accept payments if needed instead of a lump sum invoice, please contact us for more information.
For More Information …
Contact Program Director Jon Thompson at 940-241-2099 or by email at jon@briarwoodretreat.org.
