Camp Moomba is a truly amazing place where youth impacted by HIV have a space to just be! Each year, over 30 volunteers help us make Moomba Magic by volunteering nearly 1500 hours in our winter and summer camp programs and our year-round fundraising efforts!
We're always looking for nurses, group leaders, folks to help get our campers to and from our camp buses, peers to lead cultural opportunities for our Indigenous campers and Black campers and our HIV education programming, and folks to help train our team of volunteers.
Whether you're looking for ways to help from the Lower Mainland, or to spend time on site with our camp programs, let us know below what you are interested in, and we'll be in touch to let you know what comes next!
For folks interested in coming to camp, please note camp days are quite long and very full! In a typical day, volunteers get a short-ish chunk of time to themselves.
Camp has limited cell service and no or limited wifi, depending on our site, and camp is a phone-free space for all our campers. We share sleeping quarters with others at camp, most often, with campers. Some of our sleeping spaces are gendered, while many are not.
Here's some quick information about the roles at camp:
- Camp Nurse - work in a group of two or three nurses! Nurses are responsible for administering medications, including antiretroviral medications, to our campers, as well as assessing the addressing the various bumps, bruises, and wellness needs of our campers! Nurses are part of our Wellness Team, which also includes an Indigenous Elder and our camp directors!
- Group Leaders - work with one or two other group leaders to look after camper's individual needs, support happy group dynamics, and provide campers with the scaffolding they need to have a great time throughout our camp activities!
- HIV Peer Education - is an opportunity for campers to learn about HIV from their peers, whether that by youth living with HIV or who are directly connected to HIV. Where possible, Camp Moomba pays youth living with HIV to lead this education.
- Transpo Support - is like a short road trip with campers! Transportation day is a logistical feat every year, and volunteers help us ensure every camper makes it to our ferry on time! This may include picking up campers within the Lower Mainland and bringing them to or from our bus pick up locations, or meeting campers at the airport and bringing them to join us. This role happens on our first and last days of camp, as well as the Wednesday of our summer camp program which is reserved for Visitor Day!
- Cultural Programming for Black and Indigenous campers - has become a highlight of Moomba! Currently, we have an Indigenous Elder who is part of our wellness team, and we continue to look for other peers to support cultural programming for our campers!
- Camp Training - everyone who volunteers with Camp Moomba gets YouthCO's Core Training, and we are always looking at ways to offer our volunteers more skills and training before camp! Folks who share YouthCO's values and have an area of expertise around working with youth or creating awesome camp programming are welcome to support Moomba by offering pre-camp training!
- Camp Organization - keeping track of camp supplies, and packing these supplies in and out of camp takes a lot of time and dedication! If this is your skill set, please let us know!
If there are other ways you'd like to contribute to Camp Moomba, please check 'something else' and let us know!
Volunteers are encouraged to let us know about access needs as soon as possible so we can make sure we are able to meet the needs of our campers and our team. On a more serious note, everyone who will be working directly with campers is required to complete a criminal record check because of the Criminal Records Review Act. We know that this can be a barrier, and we also know the criminal law punishes those of us living with HIV, those of us who are Black, and those of us who are Indigenous in unjust ways. We will have a conversation about this requirement with you should you be interested in joining us at camp.