Great Camp Counselors Change Lives

If you love camp, you probably have a story of how a counselor changed your life. Many became counselors just because of the impact their camp counselor had on them. I bet many of you are picturing someone right now. Camp counseling also changes the life of the counselor. They grow leadership knowledge, problem solving abilities, people skills, and perspective on how to live together. 

Camps Latgawa, Magruder, and Suttle Lake hire 8 counselors each year to serve the entire summer and be the role models to our volunteers. They are a crucial piece of our camps' counseling structure that utilizes volunteer counselors, counselors in training, and paid counselors. A full summer of counseling provides intense leadership development that is applicable life experience far beyond the summer months. 

Traditional Summer Camp Pay Scales Are Not Keeping Up

Summer Camps have long gotten by paying low wages to college age young adults off from school on summer break, depending on goodwill and staffers with low expenses. Those wages lagged behind for many years as expenses for young people have sky rocketed. 

Fewer college age young adults have the luxury of a low wage summer job than in previous decades. Student loans, the need to continue payment for housing in summer, and the availability of higher paying work in other markets make it difficult for even the most passionate counselor to choose camp.

It favors the well-off, and makes it more difficult for people with low income, big financial responsibility, and people of color to commit to do this work. These groups are then much less likely to have a foot in the door to pursue a career in camping, and camp becomes work that's just for the privileged. 

Paving a Way For Great Counselors to Choose Camp This Summer

Camps Latgawa, Magruder, and Suttle Lake are working to increase our Resident Counselor wages significantly in 2022, planning to pay weekly rates of $540 (equivalent to a 40 hour week minimum wage job in Oregon). We know even these rates are modest, but it is a 50% increase from our 2021 summer staff rates (which was already significantly above national averages). 

We hope this increase will allow for more applicants to realistically consider a summer changing camper lives at our three sites. We hope this paves the way for a more diverse staff who might not have had the means to carve out this time amidst the rest of life's challenges. We are confident these opportunities will increase the likelihood for campers to see role models like them and be inspired more deeply to grow and become the leaders who will change our world. 

More of these great leaders will encourage the exciting communities that happen at camp. These young leaders will spend more time exploring their spiritual lives together and have more investment in how we will define and live out faith in the 21st century. We have seen the great things they've done already, and so we know if they have the support necessary to thrive in this work, that they will go out and change our world. 

A Big Leap in Uncertain Times

We believe now is the time to shake up the traditional summer camp pay scale, but it comes in days when we are just emerging from the pandemic to host campers and guests regularly and the cost of everything is increasing significantly. 

Large hikes in our camp rates would be necessary to cover these increases, but we also want to be sure that all campers have access to camp, so they can experience life with these great counselors. This is why we are seeking to raise a portion of the funds necessary to make this big leap possible. 

Your Impact Will Ripple For Years to Come

Becoming part of this campaign will certainly make an incredible 2022 summer possible, but everyone who loves camp knows this gift will reverberate years and years to come. Think of all the campers who will be inspired by the great counselors we recruit. Think of these counselors who will be inspired and go on to work with people, to challenge themselves, to search for meaning. 

Your gifts make more possible. We're building the summer of 2022 now, but your work today will keep giving for years and years. Here's how you do it: 

1. Donate any amount to this campaign. Even if you feel like it's a small donation, it will inspire more to be involved.

2. Share on the social media you use to connect with people. The more people see what we are doing, the bigger the snowball effect of new people joining. Share multiple times for even better responses. 

3. Watch the campaign as it progresses and celebrate.  Seeing all the support you are a part of can be thrilling. Check in and be blown away by what we can do together. Enjoy it!

4. Connect with the inspirational people in your life.  Let's thank and encourage the people who help us see grow and discover our deeper selves.