Why our volunteers LOVE camp!
This Volunteer Week we asked some of our current volunteers what they love about camp and why they come back year after year..
Meet Kai
What do you love about camp?
Words cannot quite explain the energy emitted from everyone while at camp, whether you’re a child or adult the level of positivity, silliness and belonging is unmatched and I absolutely love it!
What brings you back to camp?
Camp has become a holiday for me, waiting for it from the moment I leave the last camp for the year to the day I go back I quite literally count down the days from camp to camp excited to meet whoever will be my new group of adventurers for the week!
As a volunteer, what do you get from camp?
As a volunteer you get the opportunity to put a smile on each and every adult or child you come across, you are in the position to not only watch the growth of the children but first handedly encourage campers and create safe spaces for them to thrive, nothing is more rewarding then seeing a child proud of whatever it is they have achieved.
Meet Claire
What do you love about camp?
I love that camp is a safe and accepting space where anyone and everyone feels permitted to be their true selves. I love that children and young people can feel free from medical definition and restrictions and just have the childhood fun they deserve to experience. I love seeing confidence grow, connections form and transformations happen literally overnight!
What brings you back to camp?
All of the above! After 16 consecutive years of attending camp, it’s become a bit of an addiction and can’t imagine life without it! I feel very privileged to be a part of memory making and creating magical moments that make transformations happen and want to give what I can to contribute towards this. Campers and families go through so much when living with health challenge(s), anything I can give to provide respite from this is an honour. Seeing campers return year on year (and even then as volunteers!) is so special, especially when given the opportunity to chat and reflect on their experiences and how this has translated to life outside of camp. Coming back to camp each time feels like coming home.
As a volunteer, what do you get from camp?
In addition to immense satisfaction of campers achieving things they never thought possible, I have definitely gained a whole heap of confidence from camp over the years too! With support and encouragement from the staff team, I have been given, and continue to embrace, opportunity to push myself out of my comfort zone, gaining belief I absolutely can do things I would normally avoid! This has given me learning and reflections to apply growth to my personal, professional and camp situations and share this with others to relate. Each time I attend camp, I gain more passion for residentials and the benefit of these for people who attend, leading me to provide such opportunities for other young people in need of this experience. Selfishly, camp gives me a break from everyday life and the real world, providing a bubble of escapism and a mental break, as when at camp there is little space for anything but camp! As an overthinker, this is magical!! (If this is what camp does for us volunteers, then imagine what it does for the people that camp is really for!) Camp has given me connections with others and gifted the most special and lifelong friendships.
Meet Rishi
What do you love about camp?
I think it’s so difficult to pick just one reason really. From the staff to the volunteers and beach patrol, everyone was so friendly and it gave me the confidence to step into my role within the team and give what I could for the kids. I was in 2 teams (blues and purples) in the same week, but the change was so seamless it was like I had been in both teams from the start. For the volunteers, watching them on day 1, so shy and hardly talking, to the last day, smiling yet bittersweet to go home and say goodbye to everyone is something I thought could never be achieved. An extra bonus has also been the fact that I have kept in touch with the volunteers I met whilst there almost a year later without realising I am in a different country for that time!
What brings you back to camp?
Well, the day I left camp, I had already decided that this was something I wanted to do again. Even though the week can seem tiring, the constant laughter and memories made is something that I am so grateful for and was hoping to do all over again this year. I originally came for my Gold DofE, but I am returning for all the people I met and to give the kids the same wonderful memories I have of camp!
As a volunteer, what do you get from camp?
This seems like such an easy question. Memories. Laughter. New friends. Confidence from being pushed out of my comfort zone. I thought I was going to camp to give the children all those, but I realise that I was also getting the same back. This opportunity is something I had never done before, but I am so grateful to have been pushed into my stretch zone and gain confidence for when I come back this year!
Meet Amy
What do you love about camp?
The thing I love most about camp is seeing the campers bonding and creating beautiful friendships and memories together. There are moments throughout the day where you think “they will remember this forever” and I think that’s really special.
What brings you back to camp?
The little moments of magic, things that in the real world might get overlooked. A quieter camper joining in a dance party, campers getting to be a bit silly and of course, the face paint!
As a volunteer, what do you get from camp?
A sense of belonging. Wherever camp is, when I get there, I feel like I’m home. It’s the place where I can be most myself.
