Last week, we gave you 5 reasons to involve volunteers in youth retreat planning. These volunteers will usually be people who want to help with the youth work/youth ministry side of things, but you don’t have to restrict your volunteers to those that want to help directly with youth work.
There are probably many people you know – in your church, community, workplace, organization, family, friends, etc. – who can help with some element of the youth retreat. These are people who don’t want to do face-to-face youth work, but who have useful skills and talents that will help make your youth retreat a success.
We’ve got 10 unlikely volunteers for your youth retreat – here are the first 5 (come back next Monday for the second batch):
1) Cooks – Depending on the youth retreat center that you book, meals may not be included. Rather than having your youth workers/volunteers double up as chefs, are there people you could ask who would be willing to be a cook at the youth retreat? They wouldn’t have to be directly involved with the youth work, so they may enjoy being able to contribute to the running of the youth retreat without having to deal directly with the young people themselves!
2) Website Designer – A website can be a great way to provide information to youth and their parents about the youth retreat. If you’re not skilled in creating websites, chances are that there’s somebody you know who can set one up for you. Websites can even be created for free – it’s simple and easy to do, even if you don’t have any experience designing websites.
3) Video Maker – Videos are another great way of generating interest in the youth retreat. If you have video footage from past youth retreats, see if there’s anybody you know that can edit videos, so that you can make a montage to show how much fun the youth retreats are. The videos can then be shown in church, youth clubs, community centers, etc. as well as being uploaded to Youtube and embedding the video in a youth retreat website (see above), or just directing people to the video on Youtube.
4) Graphic Designer – If you’re not creative or arty (much like myself), chances are that the youth retreat flyer or leaflet you produce will look kinda lame. Graphic designers can help you create a vibrant youth retreat flyer that doesn’t have to be expensive.
5) Accountant – Budgets aren’t for everyone, but they’re one of the main things you’ll have to deal with if you’re organizing a youth retreat. If numbers aren’t your thing, is there an accountant or treasurer who can help you with the youth retreat budget?
As we mentioned above, next Monday we’ll suggest another 5 unlikely volunteers for your youth retreat.
**We’ve now published a book to help anyone planning a youth retreat. Find out more about How To Plan A Youth Retreat here**
Question: What’s the unlikeliest youth retreat volunteer you’ve ever had? We’d love to hear your answers – use the comments box below.
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