Summer Camp Recruitment Materials

Here are some resources that you can use in your staff recruitment efforts. With two basic themes -- skills you'll learn and reasons to work at camp at camp this summer -- there are:

• Facebook Posts (These can also be used as flyers; there are PDF versions) -- There are two versions of each, to show you where a logo could go. Email Ashley with your logo file in order to get a customized version.

• Instagram Posts These have 8 or 9 slides, so could be used as one post, or in pieces, however you like.

• Instagram Stories These are saved as video files; let me know if a different format would be better.

• Video There’s a quick video montage of staff-in-action photos that you could throw a text over or a song behind, or otherwise use as you like. There are two ratio versions of that for either a post or story on Instagram (TikTok has the same ratios as Instagram stories.)

Throughout the copy/text, if you have a specific reason or skill you'd like to highlight, edits can be made; send Ashley the exact language you'd like to use. If you're on Canva and would like to use these as templates to create your own, I can share with you; just send me your username.

Here's the Google Drive folder with all the above.

What else could you use to support staff recruitment for the summer?

Hiring via ECCC's website

Did you know that the Jobs sections of ECCC’s website is far-and-away our most trafficked?

You can submit year-round and seasonal positions through this Google form.

Going forward, we will be strongly encouraging all job posters to include a salary range in posts; it’s an equity issue, and it helps you get more viable candidates. Here are five more reasons why to include salary range in job postings.

ECCC's Annual Auction is Moving Online, Too!

Traditionally, ECCC holds both live and silent auctions at our annual conference to raise funds for our annual operations and scholarship fund. It’s a fun and essential event, raising over $20K in recent years to support ECCC’s educational and networking events.

The auction will launch soon, and we still need contributions! Water bottles, stickers, sweatshirts, socks, and hats are just some of the most popular items in this camp- and retreat- loving community!

Do you have center swag to show off and offer? Please send a photo, description, and fair market value price information to ECCC Treasurer, Brad Thompson.

The Update: ECCC's 2020 Newsletter

ECCC’s newsletter was mailed (Yes! With postage!) this week. Check your mailbox!

A note about ACA dues

If you are accredited with the ACA (American Camp Association), you’ve recently received your renewal notice. We've talked to the ACA about dues payments during this very financially challenging time and they've indicated that if your center is struggling to pay your ACA dues you can absolutely reach out to the ACA Membership team to talk through your options and find a solution that will work for your financial situation. ACA can help you figure things out so that you are able to maintain your accreditation.

A couple of important points to note:

• All ACA renewal dates are due at the end of October.

• If organizations make some form of payment prior to their renewal (and a 30-day grace period), they will maintain accreditation status.

Please let Patty know as soon as possible if you aren't able to make payments so that she can connect you with our ACA representatives, so that you don't lose your accreditation status.

A Message About Camp Week from ECCC's Executive Director

Dear Friends,

I’m excited for Camp Week, a week to celebrate and raise up camps during this very challenging time. 

What is there to celebrate? Some things remain true. Camp is transformational! It:

• Provides a safe space for young people to be challenged by the Gospel

• Shows young people how to love and be loved deeply in community

• Demonstrates the value and importance of stewarding God’s Creation

• Empowers young people to create change in their communities

• Gives young people an opportunity to live in community, embodying Jesus’s Way of Love

And, kids can unplug at camp: Remember unplugging? It’s becoming more important than ever.

Because of COVID-19, there are campers all over the country that are missing their transformational communities of faith. Even more, young people are being asked to adapt to our ever-changing world, quickly.

COVID-19 has led our camps to alter or pause their summer camp programs. We’re creatively responding, but the truth is that campers are missing important experiences at crucial stages in development. Camp, a safe place to wrestle with new ideas and realities, is not there for them as they need it.

We will survive, but it is more important than ever that we ensure that camps are there when this is over.

Without expected revenue from summer camp, retreat, and outdoor education groups, Episcopal centers are creatively trying to preserve their ministries for the future. 

Despite camps’ efforts, there are centers that will struggle, and camps that are in jeopardy of closing permanently without support from people like you.

Please consider supporting Episcopal camps and conference centers now, by donating to a camp’s annual fund, purchasing merchandise from an online store, starting a crowdfunding campaign for the camp that transformed your life, or sharing a testimonial about your camp experience.

Find a camp to support here.

Please keep Episcopal camps and conference centers in your prayers.

Peace and Blessings,

Patty Olson Lindsey
Executive Director
Episcopal Camps and Conference Centers

Black Lives Matter.

Episcopal Camps & Conference Centers is committed to sustaining and enhancing the ministry of all camps and conference centers of the Episcopal Church, and deeply believes that love is at the core of those ministries. ECCC is a network made up of imperfect humans. We strive to be actively anti-racist, and know that it is constant, ongoing work. We commit to that work, and believe, unequivocally, that Black Lives Matter, condemn the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and too many others, and stand in solidarity with protestors doing the hard work of love in action.

Up-to-Date Statements

We understand that your inbox is overflowing with resources. Here is a simple executive summary about the most up-to-date guidelines for Episcopal summer camps, retreat centers, and conference centers. We will keep this information current, and pinned to the top of the ECCC news thread on this website.

Your county health department is your definitive resource for what is and will be permitted and recommended. You can access your state’s COVID-19 resource hubs through these links.

Our understanding of the most up-to-date policies and recommendations are as follows:

• Center for Disease Control May 15, 2020 update

  1. Guidelines from the CDC for re-opening camp

• The Episcopal Church: These are general guidelines; decisions should be made in collaboration with Church leadership and health authorities, based on local practices and safety concerns.

  • Combat fear with knowledge in order to encourage preparedness and decrease stigma.

  • Maintain operational continuity and continue to worship life in the case of potential quarantine and disruption.

  • Show God’s compassion and care to those in our communities who are affected.

• American Camp Association May 15 update

  • Suggested operational actions based on the above CDC guidelines (Compiled PDF)

    • Here are the medical and cleaning supplies the ACA recommends you have on-hand to operate summer camp in 2020.

---

1. Here is a summary of the decision making process from a camp that decided to cancel traditional on-site programming in 2020, via Camp Marshall.

2. Here are safety and health procedures to consider and think through from a camp nurse, via Camp Stevens.

3. Here are helpful contingency planning frameworks from the American Camp Association and from United Methodists Camp & Retreat Ministry.

What do you need? Email Ashley or Patty.

Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Resources: What do you need?

At the end of 2019, ECCC was awarded a Becoming Beloved Community grant to continue and deepen our organization’s work toward inclusivity, reconciliation, and representation.

This grant is enabling us to develop an anti-racism and inclusivity framework and toolkit for summer camps and retreat centers. With a design team in place, we will begin this work as soon as the COVID-19 crisis enables us to resume plans for our design retreat.

We need your questions and resources: When you consider diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts at your organization, what do you have, and what do you need?

• What have you attended, compiled, bookmarked, or learned a lot from?

• What books/articles/videos/podcasts have you been meaning to get to?

• Has your diocese or local community offered something helpful?

Please send these our way! Offer your context and perspective, if you’d like, but it can also be a quick email with a list of links or titles. The design team will spend a significant amount of time compiling resources to empower all of our summer camps and retreat centers to work on inclusion initiatives.

Email your resources and questions to Ashley.

2020 Conference Session: The 3 R’s of Reparations

Reparations is a topic mired in misunderstanding and controversy. It creates discomfort. For some, an unexpected sense of animosity arises when it is discussed. This workshop is intended to provide an opportunity to talk about the issue of reparations on an intimate level, beyond stereotypical associations, and to dismantle myths often associated with the idea of reparations. Using the model of a three-legged stool, we will break down reparations into three Rs, exploring the importance of restoration, restitution, and reconciliation.

Presented by: The Rev. Canon Christine (Chris) L. McCloud is the Canon for Mission. Prior to her call to the Diocese of Maryland, she was the founder and Executive Director of Turning Point Community Services in Irvington NJ, an agency that provides emergency housing and supportive services to homeless women and children. Chris has spent nearly thirty years working in the not-for-profit sector in the development of special needs housing and job training programs for formerly incarcerated individuals. Coming from the Diocese of Newark, Chris was the Archdeacon for Administration and Formation, deacon-in-charge of Church of the Holy Innocents in W. Orange NJ and a spiritual advisor for the Diocese of NY Episcopal Cursillo program. She is also a veteran of the USAF where she was a Law Enforcement Specialist. Chris was honored as the Tactical Air Command’s Law Enforcement Specialist, 1st Term Airman of the Year in 1984.

ECCC Awarded Becoming Beloved Community Grant

We are thrilled to announce that Episcopal Camps & Conference Centers has received a $10,000 Becoming Beloved Community grant.

The intent for these grants is to build capacity and increase Episcopal parish, diocesan, and agency engagement in four primary fields: telling the truth about our churches and race, proclaiming the dream of Beloved Community, practicing Jesus’ way of healing and reconciliation, and repairing the breach in institutions and society.

ECCC has received an Impact grant, intended to “grow capacity, impact, and reach of communities and institutions already working to advance racial justice, healing, and reconciliation. “ Specifically, our project will use the Episcopal Church’s Becoming Beloved Community resources to create an Inclusion, Equity & Cultural Competency Guide for camps and conference centers and pilot programs to refine and use the guide. The goal is to create environments and programming that foster deep, authentic representation and inclusion across Episcopal camping and retreat ministries.

We have outlined five main components:

1. Convene leadership from camps and conference centers to participate in the Sacred Ground Dialogue Series and become the guide’s design team.

2. Facilitate an in-person retreat with the design team that will culminate with an Inclusion, Equity & Cultural Competency Guide for Camps and Conference Centers and a workshop series for summer camp leadership to implement the guide’s practices.

3. ECCC will invite a second group of leaders to participate in the Sacred Ground Dialogue Circle. This group will become pilot programs to use and refine the newly created guide.

4. Facilitate an in-person workshop that uses Beloved Community Story Sharing and introduces the newly created guide and how to facilitate that work at their individual centers.

5. Provide centers with facilitated assessments on their individual and organization-wide cultural competency, including behavior during conflict.

We have just been notified that our project proposal was funded, and look forward to sharing plans and details with our community about what’s next. It is incredible to see that the Episcopal Church is investing $350,600 to catalyze the church’s work of racial healing, reconciliation and justice, and we are honored and galvanized to be a part of it.

2020 Conference Session: Way of Love/Becoming Beloved Community Roundtable

Share your ideas and resources at this round table on integrating the Way of Love and Becoming Beloved Community at camps and conference centers. Facilitator Miriam McKenney will share a process she’s developed using story to engage people with the Way of Love to enter into the challenging work of racial healing and reconciliation.

Presented by: Miriam McKenney finds extreme joy parenting her three girls: Nia, 24; Kaia, 19; and Jaiya, 16. She and her husband, David, met at the Union of Black Episcopalians conference in 1981. Miriam serves as Development Director at Forward Movement and Youth Minister at Calvary Episcopal Church in Cincinnati. She was a children’s librarian and school media specialist for 20 years before joining Forward Movement’s staff. She loves to evangelize about her love of outdoor fitness, even in extreme temperatures — as there is no bad weather, just incorrect clothing choices.

2020 Conference Session: Connecting the Dots: Your Mission and Your Story

Forward Movement’s mission is to inspire disciples and empower evangelists. Let’s strategize about the best ways to tell the story of your organization by reconnecting with your mission. Miriam will share research on how communication works in the brain and how we can use that information to tell the story our constituents need to hear.

Presented by: Miriam McKenney finds extreme joy parenting her three girls: Nia, 24; Kaia, 19; and Jaiya, 16. She and her husband, David, met at the Union of Black Episcopalians conference in 1981. Miriam serves as Development Director at Forward Movement and Youth Minister at Calvary Episcopal Church in Cincinnati. She was a children’s librarian and school media specialist for 20 years before joining Forward Movement’s staff. She loves to evangelize about her love of outdoor fitness, even in extreme temperatures — as there is no bad weather, just incorrect clothing choices.

2020 Conference Session: How Not to Get Sued - And - How to Win If You Are: The Lessons Learned By A Camp Safety Expert Witness

The ACA Hot Line provides seasonal feedback to camp operators about emerging issues; similarly, we will look at some liability cases brought against camp and conference centers. TCDI has taken the 100+ cases we have provided expert witness services for and refined them to share the lessons learned with owners and operators of day camps, residential camps, retreat and conference centers. Few of these lawsuits reach a jury and public review; settlements are often subject to non-disclosure restrictions putting the critical causal factors of an incident behind court gag orders. TCDI reviewed these cases and we'll bring the analytics refined to a "What went wrong" level.

Somewhere between Perry Mason and My Cousin Vinny, we believe sharing this overview is an important opportunity for decision-makers and leaders in our camp community to have. The health, safety, and wellbeing of our campers, staff, and guests should be at the forefront of our operations.

The Update: ECCC's 2019 Newsletter

ECCC’s newsletter was mailed (Yes! With postage!) this week. Check your mailbox!

2020 Conference Plenary: Parity & Equity in Pension Benefits, a Listening Session with Church Pension Group

The Church Pension Group (CPG) is very pleased to be with the ECCC at this conference. In 2018, at the 79th General Convention of the Episcopal Church, the Church Pension group was asked to make several reports back to the church at the 80th General Convention in 2021. As a part of the report requested about parity and equity in pension benefits across the church, we at CPG have been holding listening events with as many different groups as possible in order to have all voices and ideas represented. We will use our time with the group to get your particular input on this issue in order to strengthen our report. Thank you for this opportunity to be with you and to listen to you.

Facilitated by: The Rev'd. Clayton Crawley is Executive Vice President and Chief Church Relations Officer for the Church Pension Group (CPG). He is responsible for strengthening CPG’s ties with the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society, General Convention, and other groups and stakeholders around the Church. He joined CPG in 1999. Previously, Fr. Crawley led CPG’s technology program and served as Chief Information Officer. Prior to this, he was the Associate Rector of All Saints Episcopal Church, Palo Alto, California. He has more than 25 years of ordained ministry experience and currently serves as a non-stipendiary priest at St. Bartholomew's Parish and Trinity Church Wall Street in New York City. He holds an MDiv from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific.

Giving Thanks! Historic Outdoor Ministries Connection Great Gathering at Lake Junaluska

November 10-14, 2019, an ecumenical group of mainline denominational camp and retreat associations held the Outdoor Ministries Connection Great Gathering at Lake Junaluska, located in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. The gathering was the first of its kind.

The theme of the conference was RelationSHIFT – expanding our understanding of relationship as God’s people. 536 people attended the conference, representing seven denomination associations and four other denominations and 335 camp and retreat centers across the US and Canada. Participating denomination associations included Episcopal Camps and Conference Centers, Lutheran Outdoor Ministries, Presbyterian Church Camp & Conference Association, Outdoor Ministry Association of the United Church of Christ, United Church of Canada, and United Methodist Camp and Retreat Ministries. The idea for the conference was born at a joint Board meeting among the associations four years ago, and the planning team began preparation in earnest in the fall of 2016.

Conference Co-Chairs Nathan Pile (Executive Director, Sequanota Lutheran Conference Center and Camp, PA) and Elise Bates Russell (Executive Director, Johnsonburg Camp and Retreat Center, NJ (Presbyterian)) began with teambuilding and forming relationships between the various representatives from each denomination on the team. “Creating common ground and asking ‘what can we do better together?’ was a driving goal for this event,” shares Elise and Nathan. “We wanted top notch speakers, workshops, and opportunities for networking so that regional connections could strengthen our ministries across the continent.”

Conference keynotes, preachers, and leaders included author and nonprofit consultant Joan Garry, author and noted speaker/preacher the Rev Barbara Brown Taylor, author and activist Shane Claiborne, author and teambuilding consultant Jim Cain, and dean of Duke University Chapel and associate professor of Homiletics Rev Dr Luke Powery. Music was led by musician and singer-songwriter Ken Medema. Artist, pastor, retreat leader, and creative entrepreneur Lisle Gwynn Garrity served as artist in residence for the four-day historical gathering. 76 exhibitors joined the conference, and there were 80 educational workshops on topics that ranged from risk management to creative programming, from nonprofit management to spiritual development. Conference participants were also able to enjoy the area on one afternoon of the conference with field trips in Haywood County and Asheville.

--------

Lauri SoJourner, executive director Lake Logan Conference Center in Canton, who served on the planning team for the Great Gathering, said, “The process of pulling this event together was life-changing. We learned, laughed, cried, danced, prayed, worshiped, sang, thought, shifted, and grew together through the whole process and especially through the week of the conference. Each denomination has its own history and practices, but it is clear that we all want to follow in the way of Jesus and spread love through camp and retreat ministry. It is clear that we follow Jesus best when we do it together.”

Announcing ECCC Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Scholarships

Since 1989, ECCC’s commitment to developing leaders has been core to who we are and what we do. With your generous support, each year we raise money to offer scholarships for the Annual Conference, and our other educational events.

To expand these efforts, we are excited to announce the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) scholarship program. This program will support continuing education for leaders from historically underrepresented demographics in Christian camping and retreat ministry.

This program aims to provide an opportunity for professional growth, while advancing the cause of Episcopal camping and retreat ministry, and fostering deep, authentic representation and inclusion within our community.

In partnership with the Claggett Center and Diocese of Maryland, for 2020, ECCC will offer five full scholarships and 20 partial scholarships (accommodations and meals; the remaining balance will be $200) to the Annual Conference.

These scholarships are available to self-identifying members of underrepresented or marginalized populations, currently serving, or interested in serving, in rising leadership positions at an Episcopal summer camp, retreat center, or conference center. We invite you to consider with intentionality the members of your staff and community who may be interested in, contribute to, and benefit from attending ECCC’s Annual Conference, and support them in applying and attending.

You are eligible to apply for an EDI scholarship if you identify as a member of an underrepresented group including, but not limited to, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identification, or are a non-native English speaker.

We acknowledge that showing up to spaces occupied by those from primarily more dominant groups can be challenging and vulnerable for marginalized or otherwise under-represented populations. Scholarship recipients will not be asked to serve as “ambassador” for any population, or an educator of others. Scholarship recipients are encouraged to focus on getting the most out of their ECCC conference experience and have no special duties or obligations. All first-time attendees will have the option to be paired with a repeat attendee.

Scholarship applications must be received by November 1. Award notifications will be sent by November 15.

Announcing Leader’s Circle, a small group opportunity

Designed for Program Directors and Camp Directors, Leader’s Circle is a Colleague Group that provides training and a forum to support and develop leaders.

During 10 consecutive weekly online sessions, you will be immersed in a supportive community with other directors for a time of learning, connecting, and discovering. Each session is specifically designed to address multiple facets of being a leader at an Episcopal camp and/or conference center. Geared specifically for people in their positions 3 years or less, you will not only learn principles of leadership but discuss the hard things directors face on a day-to-day basis.

Topics will include:

• Episcopal Identity

• Staff Mental Health/Self Care

• Marketing

• Program Budgets/Accounting

• Camper Behavior

• Diversity/Social Justice

• Staff Supervision

• Partnering with Parents

Our group will gather on Fridays from 2:15-3:45pm EST from October 4 through December 6 (The Friday after Thanksgiving will be an optional gathering.). Since this is a program designed around group growth and learning, if you are going to have to miss more than one week of the session we encourage you to wait and sign up for the next cohort.

To maximize participation and group development, this cohort will be limited to 8 participants.

There will be future incarnations of this type of colleague group, and if you can't participate this time around, please indicate your interest in a future cohort here.

Questions? Ask here, or email Ashley@EpiscopalCCC.org.

A mid-summer message from Presiding Bishop Michael Curry

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry has a message for our Episcopal camps and conference centers, doing the work of the church and the Way of Love as taught and embodied by Jesus.