5 Reasons Why You (Yes, You!) Should Volunteer at Camp Casco This Summer

Aqua & Ashlynn, Overnight Camp

Volunteering with us is a wonderful way to get involved and make a meaningful difference in the pediatric cancer community. Not only do our volunteers support some truly amazing kids, there are lots of personal reasons to volunteer, too!

Whether you’re looking to bolster your resume, make some new friends, use your skills in a new way, or take on a fun new adventure, volunteering at Camp Casco can help you do it!

Read on for our top 5 reasons why you should join us at Camp Casco this summer:

1. Meet Awesome New People

Railroad, Sparkles, Lo, & Scout, circa 2015 at our first-ever session of Camp Casco.

Camp Casco is welcoming and inclusive- a place where kids surviving childhood cancer are celebrated exactly as they are. Bullying and meanness are unacceptable, and kindness is king. This comes as a welcome change for so many of our kids, who struggle with bullying in their normal lives (yes, it’s awful, it’s worse than you think, and it’s so much more common than you may realize).

The beauty of creating a space so focused on celebrating kindness and appreciating people as they are, is that we tend to attract some truly wonderful volunteers. We’re lucky enough to have an amazing team who embrace our incoming team members just as readily as we embrace our campers. As a result, camp tends to foster meaningful friendships between camp counselors, just as it does in our campers.

We’re a perfect example: I met our fabulous Program Director Krystin “Lo” Whitacre back in 2008, when we both started volunteering as camp counselors as a pediatric oncology camp in California. We instantly became friends, and when we decided to start Camp Casco in 2014, Krystin was one of the first to step up and get involved. She remains a close friend to this day, all because of that week we shared as brand-new camp counselors years ago.

Volunteering is an excellent way to meet others who share your interests and values, and volunteering at camp, in particular, is a surefire way to end the week with a list of new friends.

2. Grow Professionally

Dr. Gabe* knows camp is the perfect place to prepare for his future in medicine!

*Not a real doctor

Volunteering can be a great way to test the waters of a future career path. Thinking about a future in childcare, social work, child life, psychology, education, healthcare, or camp administration? Volunteering with childhood cancer patients, survivors, and siblings in this setting can give you some really unique insights into the realities of childhood cancer survivorship, and several camp counselors have actually chosen their specialty, or even changed careers, after volunteering at camp. (Side note: volunteer experience at Camp Casco is a great resume-builder!)

In addition, volunteering gives you the chance to learn new skills and build on existing ones that can come in handy when looking for jobs or internships, applying to graduate school, or even simply moving up the ladder in your current position. Communication, flexibility, creativity, teamwork, and initiative are mandatory skills in a camp setting that will benefit you in virtually any role. Building these skills will help prepare you for whatever career path you choose, and excelling in them is a great way to earn some new professional references for your next interview.

3. Challenge Yourself

Rainbow trying out the big swing at One Mission’s Sibling Retreat 2022 (while appropriately dressed as a parrot).

Summer camp is designed to challenge campers: by changing their environment, their routine, their activities, and their friends, kids face a lot of new and uncomfortable situations. While this can feel a little scary, it also helps kids grow, building self-confidence and increasing resilience as they prove to themselves that they can handle these hard situations.

Volunteers are challenged in many of the same ways! Sleeping somewhere new, eating camp food, and trying camp activities can feel pretty intimidating (as does unplugging from daily life)! At the same time, this immersive experience is so valuable in shaking things up and helping us get out of our comfort zone. While, yes, I’m still totally afraid of heights, our campers inspire me to challenge myself and face my fears so they see that they can, too— we’re in it together.

Whether your challenge is heights, public speaking, or even just living somewhere new for a week, camp offers adults and kids alike the opportunity to remind yourself how absolutely capable you are.

4. Reduce Stress & Have Fun!

Pepper enjoying a relaxing spa-like makeover at Day Camp 2022 (courtesy of Isabel).

Life is stressful, and it’s easy to get caught up in the daily grind. Taking a step back and escaping to camp can be amazingly therapeutic. Research has found that volunteering reduces stress levels and increases feelings of happiness and satisfaction, and it’s easy to see why.

Spending hours in nature, moving, laughing, and simply focusing on giving the kids in front of you the best week of their summer almost hits a reset button on all of the other noise. It’s a tangible reminder of what’s most important in life, and that our time is precious. As Overnight Camp Director and longtime volunteer Victoria Valencia says, the week of Camp Casco fills her cup.

For one whole week, we enjoy a jam-packed schedule filled with theme days, cake smashes, water balloon fights, archery, swim time, campfires, arts and crafts, and color wars. A week with no cell phones buzzing, no hours spent staring at a computer screen, no long staff meetings to sit through. Camp is pure, unadulterated fun— and who doesn’t need a little more of that in their life?

5. Make A Difference

Giggles & Alyce, Day Camp 2022

Perhaps one of the greatest benefits of volunteering is knowing that your efforts are making a difference in someone else’s life. For kids who have already been through so much, spending days in doctor’s offices, worried about the next test, scan, or procedure, the chance to just be a kid is so incredibly important.

Our volunteers help childhood cancer patients, survivors, and siblings get back to what kids should be focused on. What ice cream topping should I choose today? Which counselor should I choose to sit in the dunk tank first? Can I hit a bulls eye in archery? We get to restore the magic and joy of summer for kids who have spent way too much of their life fighting for it.

And while there are so many big and crazy moments of fun at camp (the slip n slide! egg roulette! the talent show!), there are even more amazing moments of love and celebration and kindness. The teen giving a younger camper afraid to go down the slide a pep talk. The boy who never speaks at school emcee-ing the talent show. The girl who feels self-conscious about her hair loss feeling comfortable taking off her wig. These are the moments that stay with you forever. These are the moments when you feel that you’ve truly made an impact.

Ready to Get Involved?

All in all, volunteering offers countless rewards both personally and professionally, and here at Camp Casco, there are tons of ways to get involved. Check out our open volunteer opportunities below. We’d love to welcome you to the Camp Casco family!