2025 Summer Staff Application

Thank you so much for inquiring about being a summer staff member at Little Eden Camp. We are already making plans for summer 2025 and are looking forward to learning more about those interested in working here. As you scroll below, you will find several pieces of information:

2025 Summer Calendar & Staff Needed—This describes the summer schedule and how many staff are needed for what terms.
Summer Staff Responsibilities & Positions—As primarily a family camp facility, our summer staff’s responsibilities for the majority of the summer look very different than most camps where staff work all but one hour of every day. And although our staff members have nice amounts of time off, there are very specific responsibilities included in your weekly pay, beyond the basic shifts found on the schedules. We want everyone applying to understand what responsibilities you are accepting as a part of your duties. So please read it carefully. This section also describes the positions available for which you can apply.
2025 Summer Staff Application—Fill out all sections of this completely if you wish to be considered for a position at camp. Please note that you cannot save your information once you start. There are a few long answer questions that you might want to think through and/or write out before you begin.
Reference Form—New applicants, please email the form or give a copy of the form to each of the people listed on your application right away. Here is the link to the reference form. Returning staff, see the information below to determine if you need to send these out.
Little Eden Scholarship Fund Policy—Little Eden is blessed with a very unique program funded solely through the generous donations from the families you serve which allows Little Eden to give scholarships to eligible summer staff. Attached are the guidelines for granting scholarships. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask.

A couple things to know before filling out your application:

Returning Staff: Please return applications by December 29 if possible. If you worked in the summer of 2024, please fill out the Returning Staff Application. Returning staff that worked other summers should list references on the application and send reference forms.
New Staff: We will contact you for an interview as soon as we have received your three completed reference forms, so please send them out right away. We will leave the process open until all positions are filled. We encourage you to get your application and references in promptly to guarantee we consider you for the summer.

Little Eden’s Pay Scale:

Base pay of $275.00 per week, plus free room and board, use of camp boats, bikes, and more (counselors volunteering during youth camp weeks only will receive $275 gratuity per week).
Returning summer staff receive an additional $10.00 per week, for each year returning.
Craft Director receives an additional $10.00 per week.
College Scholarships of 50% to 125% of gross summer wages are given to those who work at least 30 days and meet the Scholarship Fund criteria.

Thanks for taking time to consider working at Little Eden Camp. Before beginning the process of filling out the paperwork, we ask that you pray about your plans for next summer, seeking God’s guidance.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me at [email protected] or 231-889-4294.

In Christ,

Wayne A. Faber, Executive Director
and
KJ Oom, Operations Director

Summer Schedule 2025

Pre-Orientation:
May 1 Two grounds and facilities/general staff starts
May 15 Craft Director starts
May 19 One office & 1 kitchen staff start

Orientation:
June 1 Remaining Staff Arrive
June 1-6 Orientation
June 6-8 Kids Camp Orientation (additional kids camp staff arrive)

Early Camps/Kids Camps:
June 7-14 Pre-Family 1 Week
June 8-13 Junior High Camp (additional kids camp staff)
June 14-21 Pre-Family 2 Week
June 15-20 Boys/Girls Camp & High School Camp (additional kids camp staff)

Family Camps:
June 21-28 Genesis Week
June 28- July 5 First Family Week
July 5-12 Christian Fellowship Week
July 12-19 Home Builders Week
July 19-26 Christian Business & Professional Week
July 26-August 2 Second Family Week
August 2-9 Farmers Week
August 9-16 Rest & Relaxation 1 (R&R 1) Week (12 Staff)
August 16-23 Rest & Relaxation 2 (R&R 2) Week (10 Staff)

Specialty Camps:
August 23-30 Lifetime Activities Week (3-4 Staff/Volunteers)
August 30- Sept 6 Golf & Fellowship Week (3-4 Staff/Volunteers)
September 7-12 Quilt Week (3-4 Staff/Volunteers)

Summer Staff Responsibilities & Position Summaries

Summer Staff Responsibilities: (excluding pre-summer, orientation and kids camp weeks)

Six shifts on the schedule: These shifts will be listed as 7 1/4-to-8-hour shifts (excluding meals & devotions) but please realize that if the work isn’t done at the end of the shift, that we work until the work is done. If it is done by the end of your shift, you will get out as scheduled, but if it isn’t complete, you will need to stay until you are done. We truly try to honor the times on the schedule as much as possible, but our guests’ needs always come first and occasionally more time is needed. Some shifts will be straight shifts, and some will be split shifts. Everyone works Saturday, which is turn-over day at camp. Typically, your day off will be the same day each week, once we reach family camps. Snack Shop is included as part of your shift.
Sunday Worship: All staff participate in Sunday morning worship. For some, that will mean leading worship on the praise team, which will require Saturday evening rehearsals. For some, it will be taking the offering, helping set up, etc.
Staff Devotions: All staff attend devotions (Monday—Saturday) except on their day off.
Evening Staff Outing: During family camps, summer and year-round staff have an evening where we do things as a whole team to build community and enjoy time together. In the past we have played mini golf, grilled over a fire, enjoyed the beach at camp and even went for a tugboat ride. Often these evenings include ice cream or some other yummy dessert! And camp picks up the tab for these evenings so there’s no cost to you.
Thursday Night Volleyball: A Thursday Night tradition at Little Eden includes the winning volleyball team of the week playing the Little Eden summer staff team, which includes all staff members. This game happens around 7:15 p.m. If the staff team wins, Wayne and Lynda will personally buy the team ice cream.

Primary Positions:
Crafts Director: Responsible for running the craft shop Monday through Friday, determining crafts for the summer, inventorying, ordering and re-ordering supplies as needed, keeping shelves and craft hall orderly and clean, including webstering (inside), sweeping, washing down tables/benches, ping pong tables, etc. This person ideally should be available to work from Mid-May through R&R 2.

Cook/Kitchen Staff: Primary responsibility is in the kitchen. Prepare food for meals, restock and clean the buffet line, and put away food after mealtime. Ensure Servsafe and Health Department rules (taught in training) are being followed at all times. Includes cleaning in the kitchen.

General Staff: Duties include a variety of activities including dishes in the kitchen, washing and prepping outdoor tables, cleaning the chapel, hallways, dining room, restrooms, blowing walkways, webstering, washing windows, etc. Ensure Servsafe and Health Department rules (taught in training) are being followed in the dish room/kitchen at all times. Secondary responsibilities can be added if you have a specialty area of interest/gifts.

Office Staff: Answer guests’ questions in the office, input camper data into the Little Eden program, assist with check-out on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, do PowerPoint Shows for weeks of camp, and other office tasks as asked/assigned. Must be good at math.

Grounds and Facilities Staff: Assist Grounds & Facilities Director with work orders, mowing, weed whipping, cleaning marina, emptying garbage and maintaining the grounds of Little Eden Camp.

Secondary Positions:
Staff members may hold these positions in addition to their primary positions. Unless noted, these positions are included in your regular work hours. See each listing for pairing of positions.

Flower Care: Along with being a general staff member, water, deadhead, weed and fertilize flowers around campus two to four times a week. Experience with flowers and/or gardens preferred.

Craft Shop Helper: Along with being a general staff member, assist anywhere from one to five days a week in the craft shop, as needed (based on number of campers and activities happening). Fill in for Crafts Director on lunch break.

Laundry Care: Along with being a general staff member, assist with turnover laundry on Friday, Saturday and Monday. Also wash, dry, fold and put away daily kitchen laundry, as needed.

Meal Check-In: Along with being a general staff member, check campers in for meals. This person should be outgoing, congenial, good at greeting people, remembering names, not easily flustered, and comfortable with asking people questions.

Grilling: Along with being a general staff member and/or grounds and facilities staff, grill hamburgers and brats or chicken on Tuesday and/or Thursday afternoons.

Praise Team: Along with other responsibilities, be a part of the Praise Team for Sunday worship. This involves practice outside of regular shift hours to be ready for Sunday services.

Kids Camp Positions:
Cabin Leader: Lead campers through daily activities and schedules. Live in cabins and supervise campers 24/7. Ensure safety of campers at all times.

Lifeguard: Must be certified or willing to get certified before the start of Kid's Camp.

Little Eden Camp Scholarship Fund Policy

It has always been the desire of Little Eden Camp to hire quality employees at reasonable wages supplemented by room and board. Over the years, it became apparent that additional funding to offset skyrocketing college expenses was attractive to prospective staff. Therefore, in 1992, a formal policy was established by the Board of Directors for accepting and distributing money for the Little Eden Scholarship Fund. This policy was edited in December 2005, in 2008, and again in 2016 to reflect the camp’s current needs. The following guidelines have been established to maintain consistent and impartial application of these funds.

1) Money for the Scholarship Fund is obtained from the following sources:

Donations to Little Eden Camp designated for the College Scholarship Fund.
Contributions from the offering taken during the Sunday morning worship service at camp.

2) To benefit from the Scholarship Fund, one of the following criteria must be met:

Employed at Little Eden as full time summer staff for a minimum of 30 days and must be enrolled in college or a similar program (trade school) sometime during the next nine months following their employment.
Employed at Little Eden as full time summer staff for a minimum of 30 days, or employed at Little Eden on a VS term (minimum of one year), and upon the termination of this employment is not enrolled in college, but has college debt owed to a financial institution.
Employed at Little Eden as full time year-round staff and upon termination of this employment, immediately enters or returns to college, graduate school, seminary, or other similar program.

3) If scholarship funds are available, they will be distributed as follows:

Each eligible partial year summer staff employed more than 30 days but less than ten weeks (61 days) will receive a scholarship equal to 50% scholarship of their gross summer wage.
Each eligible summer staff employed for the full summer and staying through at least the second Saturday of Farmer’s Week or more than 10 weeks (60 days) will receive a scholarship equal to a 100% of their gross summer wage.
Each eligible summer staff employed for the full summer and staying at least through the second Saturday of R & R 1 (or later) or more than 67 days will receive an additional bonus scholarship of 25% above and beyond the 100% scholarship of their gross summer wage (up to a maximum of 20 weeks).
Full time year-round staff/each eligible individual will receive the maximum (20 weeks) that a summer staff employee could receive (at the current base weekly rate) for each year of employment at Little Eden.

4) Staff training/staff orientation will count toward the 30 days needed to become eligible for matching funds. Summer staff is expected to work six days a week – days off or away from camp will not count toward eligibility.
5) If money is not available to allocate as outlined above, then the available fund will be distributed to all eligible recipients on a pro-rated basis with the same guidelines as outlined above. For example, if only 80% of the money needed is available, then each would receive 80% of their total allocation. Please note: To date this has never happened. Full funding has thankfully always been received due to the generosity of Little Eden families.
6) All distribution checks will be payable to the institution the recipient will be attending or to the institution securing the recipients college debt.
7) The total amount sent to any institution for any individual may not exceed the expenses that will be incurred by that individual at that institution.
8) All employees interested in benefiting from the Scholarship Fund must apply in writing. Applications will be made available.
9) Any allocations given out from the Scholarship Fund in unusual circumstances not covered in this policy must be approved by the Board of Directors.