“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!
There are a number of ongoing projects and happenings at CHF that are greatly supported by volunteers. Below you will find a Sign-Up Genius corresponding to each current project or event needing support – explore and ponder, then sign up to help!
Dinner for Staff
We like to kick off the camp week with a staff dinner on the Sundays before a camp session starts. Volunteers help make these meals happen!
Staff Dinner Help
Farm Work Days
A lot of work goes into the maintenance of camp each week- grounds work like clearing, mowing, and spraying for ticks, plus cleaning and organizing! Sign up to help out!
Farm Work Days Help
Making Stuff for the Camp Store
Do you enjoy making things? Would you like to have a place to send your finished projects? The camp store is the answer! Our camp store is made up of camp merchandise, like in-house screen-printed shirts, and items made by our amazing camp community! We can gather to make together (and you can sign up for a date and time here), or you can make and donate on your own time!
Art and Craft Makers
Potluck Helpers
At the end of each camp session, we like to celebrate and enjoy a meal together – staff and campers- with a Staff Dinner. Volunteers are needed to help set up, arrange the food, and clean up.
INTERESTED IN VOLUNTEERING in any “behind the scenes” capacity? Please fill out this form!
VOLUNTEER FORM
INTERESTED IN VOLUNTEERING WITH CAMPERS? Please visit our “Work With Us” page and fill out our Camp Staff Application form!
2026 CAMP STAFF APPLICATION
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!
Create Camp Merchandise
Dye and print camp t-shirts, make things by hand to sell at the camp store!
Also come to events to help sell camp merch!
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!
“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
