BRPC High School Workcamp 2024

Where: The Carpenter’s Boat Shop – Pemaquid, Maine

When: July 13 to 21, 2024

Departure: 7/13 at 8am from the East Allen Road lot at BRPC

Return: 7/21 around 9pm to the East Allen Road lot at BRPC

Cost: details TBD ** Scholarships available – Please reach out to Beth Cleary to discuss financial aid opportunities, if full payment is difficult **

Sign Up: watch for details around Feb./Mar.

About Workcamp:

For nearly 40 years, Workcamp has provided our high school students with a truly transformative experience. With the guidance of a skilled team of adult advisors, work campers will serve those in need by repairing houses, improving home access and beautifying public spaces, while broadening their connection to God, singing, playing games, and experiencing the breathtaking beauty of Maine’s great outdoors.

These priceless experiences are the embodiment of the core mission of the Youth & Young Adult Ministry at BRPC:

“To nurture in our young people a strong faith in and love toward Christ, providing an experience of Christian community where each person is welcomed and accepted, and to create Spirit-filled opportunities to put faith into action by serving our neighbors in need.”

See What Workcamp is Like:

FAQs

What Should Students Bring?

Click here for the full Pack List – and please pack lightly, as there is limited space on the bus.

Packing List for Workcamp

Pack lightly! There is limited space on the bus.
Label ALL your belongings
Duffel bags or soft luggage is preferred over hard cases (due to limited space on bus)

Personal Items – one change of clothes per day (max)

Toiletries/ Clothes – Casual, but nicer clothes for Sunday church, sweatshirt, rain clothes, sleeping attire, and at least 1 pair of work pants/jeans (required)
Sunglasses/Hat
2 Swimsuits, 2 Towels and Shoes for bathing (Old sneakers, Water shoes, flip-flops, crocs, etc.)
Sturdy shoes for the worksites (Work boots STRONGLY preferred; NO flip-flops or sandals)
Sneakers for non-work times
Sleeping bag, pillow, pad/air mattress (please only bring twin-size air mattress. There is limited room in the sleeping areas)
100% Biodegradable soap & shampoo/ conditioner (Doc Bronner’s, etc.)
Sunscreen and bug spray (VERY important!)
Flashlight or headlight (good for bathroom runs at night)
$200 – Spending money (4 meals on road, med. insurance copays in case of emergency, 1 lunch, souvenirs, misc.)
Refillable LARGE Water Bottle (VERY important!) with name clearly marked
Prescription medicines as needed – labeled with name and dosage amounts
Phone charger – plan to use phone minimally – we want to be in community with those present

Personal Tools – label all of your tools

Hammer: 12 to 16 oz. claw
2 paintbrushes – wide & small, for trim
Paint scraper
Pencil
Tape measure
Work gloves – lighter gardening & strong leather
Dust masks
Safety glasses
Ear plugs
Small duffel or backpack to carry tools
Pocket or Utility knife (with replacement blades)
Good to bring if you have them: pry bar, screwdrivers, pliers, carpenter’s square, small level, chalk line, tool belt or nail pouch

What About Transportation?

BRPC provides a charter bus with professional driver to bring the students, advisors and gear up to the Carpenter’s Boat Shop and back.

BRPC also rents several vans to take students and advisors to and from work sites within the area of the Carpenter’s Boat Shop. Only advisors aged 25 and older are permitted to drive the vans, with two advisors present in each van.

What’s the Carpenter’s Boat Shop?

Founded in 1979 by Bobby and Ruth Ives, The Carpenter’s Boat Shop offers apprenticeships in the art and craft of boat building. The Boat Shop offers BRPC workcampers a safe and inviting home base for Workcamp, with several buildings for sleeping and group gatherings, workshops, a chapel, a kitchen and outdoor spaces for recreation.

Recognizing the needs of disadvantaged friends in the community, Ruth Ives created the Community Housing Improvement Project (CHiP inc.) in 1984. Today, CHiP inc. is a team of volunteers who help those in need in the Pemaquid area by improving their living conditions.

How Do Workcampers Help Others?

For many summers since the 1980s, CHiP inc. has worked with BRPC to facilitate home improvement projects for those in need that are suitable for high schoolers. In fact, the CHiP team looks forward to our group of willing and able volunteers arriving each summer!

Improvement projects include trailer skirting, weatherproofing, building wheelchair access and safe entryways, exterior painting, and other repairs.

Workcampers break into smaller teams and receive project assignments, then spend the day at a work site under the direction of experienced carpenters and advisors.

What Other Activities Are There at Workcamp?

Workcamp is not ALL work. When not helping those in need, students and advisors gather in the evenings as a large group to sing and affirm the day’s accomplishments, and gather in smaller groups to discuss topics centered around a spiritual theme.

In between, there is time for outdoor games, visiting the Pemaquid Point Lighthouse, swimming in Boyd Pond, and visiting local towns.

What About Meals?

Parents and church members will be asked to prepare main dishes for simple meals (casseroles, lasagna, taco meat, etc.) ahead of time at home, which will be frozen and brought with us in coolers. The advisor team will also purchase supplemental meal items while in Maine.

Most meals during Workcamp are eaten outdoors on picnic tables at the Boat Shop.

Students and advisors will be assigned to small groups for the week. Each small group will take a turn serving as the “Martha Crew” for the day. The daily Martha Crew prepares breakfast and sets out items for Workcampers to make sandwiches to take with them (along with LOTS of water and sports drinks) for lunch. After enthusiastically seeing students and advisors off to work sites, the Martha Crew remains at the Carpenter’s Boat Shop to prepare muffins and tea for Boat Shop apprentices and carpenters, clean up the kitchen area and prepare dinner for the returning work teams.

Special occasions… On Wednesday evening several local families in the community open their homes and prepare home-cooked meals for students and advisors as a thank you for our service to those less fortunate. Advisors also occasionally take their small groups out for lobster rolls or ice cream toward the end of the week.

How Are You Handling COVID Safety?

We will once again take a few extra precautions to keep our youth and advisors safe and healthy while on the trip:

All attendees (youth and advisors) will be required to be fully vaccinated for COVID per the CDC guidelines. That means a full vaccination (one dose or two) and a booster. The CDC is NOT mandating additional boosters once the original booster dose has been received. If you received a booster at any point in time, you are up to date.

Pre-Trip COVID Test

All attendees will be asked to take a parent-supplied rapid COVID test at home the night before the trip. If someone tests positive and is unable to attend, the church will issue a full refund.

If a participant or advisor experiences symptoms during the trip, he or she will be given a church-provided rapid test on site. In the event of a positive, the entire group will also take rapid tests. Should a Participant test positive they will be housed separately to minimize contact with others until they can be picked up by a family member. Please note – a family member needs to be available to pick up any participant who tests positive and bring them home.