To ensure that Reading Camp runs as smoothly as possible during the summer months, many of the program's volunteers are hard at work during the rest of the year putting programs in place and making sure that materials and staff are ready to go once the summertime arrives.
This past Saturday, our volunteer camp directors met for the first of two leadership-training sessions. This first training was conducted by the Diocesan Communications Officer, Dr. Kay Collier-McLaughlin. Kay's Leadership Development program helped the future camp directors focus both on the challenges of leading a week-long, intensive volunteer program and on laying plans for what must still be accomplished before the camps begin and the rest of the volunteer staff arrive.
In late February, Reading Camp veteran Lucy Cox will be leading the camp directors through a second training day - this one focusing on the nuts and bolts of camp directing: making transportation plans, afternoon activities, risk management, and many of the nitty-gritty details that the directors have to think about and plan for during their weeks at camp.
Trainings like these are an integral component of Reading Camp's mission. As Reading Camp continues to expand outside the "way we've always done things" and as more and more new volunteers join the program, training volunteers--especially volunteer leaders--remains an important priority.
In order for Reading Camp to minister effectively to the children who attend its camps, it must also provide a positive, supportive,and fulfilling volunteer experience for the 150 volunteers who work with Reading Camp each summer. An outreach program such as ours is only as good as the hands who are reaching out.
