volunteer

“Every child is known and cherished, with his or her needs and preferences taken into account. It is this care—and the children whose lives I have seen changed by it—that inspire me and keep me involved.”
—Eloise Grathwohl, parent, volunteer, donor

join us! sign up to volunteer!

Thank you SO much for your interest in Clapping Hands Farm! We absolutely love volunteers, and much of what we do would not be possible without them. We also have a lot of FUN working together! 

Explore and ponder, then sign up to help! We will be in touch with you promptly!

VOLUNTEER FORM

specific current needs

Our ongoing volunteer needs are listed below, along with an opportunity to sign up for monthly updates on our immediate needs for volunteers.

  • SUPER VOLUNTEERS are people who take on a specific job that needs ongoing attention for weeks or months! We have several SUPER VOLUNTEER roles that we need to fill! Anna Marie or Louise will be able to spend one on one time with these super volunteers acquainting them with their role and available to provide support anytime it’s needed!
    • Thank You Cards
    • Camp Forms
    • Fundraising Party Hosts
    • Staff Dinner Coordination
  • TEAM LEADERS are people who coordinate a group of volunteers to do a particular thing. Some of these teams are on going, some of them run for a period of time. Whether you are on the ground at camp or working from home, someone will always be available to answer any questions and provide support as needed.
    • Farm Workday Team Leader
    • Crowdfunding Team Leader
    • Community Events Team Leader
    • Flip Camp Team Leader
  • TEAM MEMBERS are people who make a project or effort happen by SHOWING UP to do specific tasks on specific days. The following teams will be active in 2022:
    • Farm Workday Team
    • Crowdfunding Team
    • Staff Dinner Team
    • Flip Camp Team
    • Community Events
    • Fundraising Team
    • Social Media Team

overview of GENERAL volunteer needs

Outdoor Labor

Clapping Hands Farm is located 3/4 of a mile back from the paved road, on what was until recently a working farm. The mingling of cleared land, camp structures, and forest leaves us with continual upkeep chores, which have been known to include clearing barbed wire, building trails, taking down fences, pruning the orchard, cutting privet, bringing in firewood, poison ivy control, tick control, painting picnic tables, ETC! If you enjoy putting doing hands-on work outdoors, this is the volunteer group for you!

Beauty and Order

Since starting camp in 2000, we have expanded a LOT–in the areas of both camp supplies and space! We would love for our camp areas (the art shed, the shelter, the cabin, the office, the wood shed, etc) to be better organized, and for all our many camp supplies to be easily accessible to counselors and lead teachers during the camp week. If you enjoy tasks related to creating BEAUTY AND ORDER out of what some might call a “mess,” this is the place for you.

Camp Project Prep

This is Louise’s personal favorite: getting ready to make camp magic happen! We do TONS of creating during camp weeks, and we use a whole lot of natural and recycled items to make that happen. Tasks here may include: collecting bamboo, collecting wisteria, making play dough, making bubble soap, collecting cardboard boxes, and testing projects to make sure they work!

Community Events

Clapping Hands is all about building connections between people, and one great way to do this is by attending fun family events around the area. We have hula hoopers, poets, singers, storytellers, and an awesome ukulele band, and we love to perform and meet people at events like First Sunday, Chatham Mills Farmers Market, Clydefest, Bynum Bridge Fest, Day of the Books, ETC! We can ALWAYS use volunteers to staff tables, pass out fliers, lead art projects, and (most importantly) meet people at these events!

Volunteer Coordination

By this point, it’s probably apparent how helpful volunteers are to Clapping Hands! And a totally crucial piece in the puzzle is linking potential volunteers up with specific jobs and needs we have. We would love to have “team leaders” that help coordinate specific volunteer crews. So, volunteer coordination is actually a volunteer opportunity unto itself. If you enjoy getting in touch with people, aligning schedules, and orienting people to new tasks, we’d love to have you help us out!

Admin

For an organization so committed to outdoor experiences, hands-on art projects, and person-to-person connections, there is an ASTONISHING amount of paper and computer work that goes on behind the scenes! It’s critical to making our programs run smoothly, and hopefully, for the right person, satisfying in its own right as well. Because this work builds upon itself and gets easier over time, we are looking for volunteers who can make a regular weekly commitment of 1-2 hours at minimum, or a bi-weekly commitment of 2+ hours.

Remembering Garden

Over the years, the Clapping Hands community has sustained a number of painful losses. We have campers who have lost a parent, and campers who have lost a sibling. Because of this, we have developed a vision of a Remembering Garden, a beautiful, interactive art installation in which to remember these people.  For this project, we welcome artists, visionaries, hands-on laborers, and anyone else who feels moved to participate.

Fundraising

Clapping Hands has a HUGE scholarship program and fundraising is essential to being able to maintain that program while at the same time keeping staff paid and Clapping Hands operations running smoothly. What’s more: when it’s going well, fundraising not only raises money, but is actually fun! We have four main fundraising efforts:

  • FUNDRAISING PARTIES are one of our most effective ways to raise money and make new connections. Volunteers HOST fundraising parties and invite their friends to come and support Clapping Hands and get a taste of camp at the same time. We talk about camp and especially about the scholarship program, provide entertainment (and children’s activities if appropriate), talk to guests, and raise a lot of money in the process.
  • Each year we run a CROWD FUNDING campaign. For this, volunteers are needed to join our GoFundMe team! The GoFundMe platform makes it wonderfully easy to invite your personal contacts to view our video and donate!
  • Camp volunteers have sometimes introduced us to major donors, matching donors, or grants. These connections are invaluable.

If our no-one-turned-away scholarship program is valuable to you –please sign up to help with fundraising!

Volunteering at Camp

Last but CERTAINLY not least, we can always use volunteers who’d like to help out at camp itself! Camp is a big, raucous party of arts and crafts and nature and games and friendship. Whether you have a special skill you’d like to share or you’d like to assist in a more support-oriented role, we’re excited to have you.

VOLUNTEER FORM

“I’m HIGHLY impressed with everyone that either volunteers or works for Clapping Hands Farm.  I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for what you do with children and especially my daughter.”
—Morleen Steen, parent