Rock Lake United Church Camp
Helping a summer camp grow through programming, communications, and a lot of moving pieces
Communications & Program Coordination | 2013–2019
I first got involved with Rock Lake United Church Camp because I loved camp.
I ended up doing considerably more than that.
Over the years, I helped coordinate summer programming, volunteers, staffing, registration, communications, schedules, and the day-to-day logistics that come with running a summer camp. I also worked on the camp's website and communications systems, helping modernize how the camp presented itself and communicated with campers and families.
It was one of those experiences where there was always something else that needed figuring out.
Someone needed to know where a group was supposed to be. A volunteer needed information. Registration numbers changed. A program needed adjusting. The website needed updating. Something needed to be communicated to parents. And occasionally, all of those things happened at once.
I learned pretty quickly that good program delivery is mostly about keeping a lot of small things moving in the same direction.
The goal was more than filling spots
One of the biggest projects I worked on was improving how the camp presented itself to potential campers and families.
Camp already had a lot going for it. You don't make it since 1885 without having your own benefits and traditions worth sharing. The challenge was communicating those strengths to people who had never been there.
I worked on the website, branding, promotional materials, social media, email communications, photography and video, and other ways of showing people what camp was actually like.
The goal wasn't to make camp look polished for the sake of looking polished.
It was to make people want to come.
That meant showing the experience: making friends, trying things for the first time, being outside, learning, getting a little uncomfortable, having fun, and feeling like you belonged there.
I helped rebuild the way camp communicated
The camp's website and communications needed to better reflect what the camp actually offered.
I worked on redesigning the website and modernizing things like the logo and letterhead, while also creating more consistent digital and print communications.
I also used photography and video to show the camp experience rather than relying entirely on text or stock images.
One of the promotional videos I created followed a simple idea: show people what summer at camp actually feels like.
Swimming. Canoeing. Making friends. Trying new things. Learning and growing.
The message was basically: come as you are, you're part of the family, and this summer is going to be awesome.
That kind of communication felt much more useful than simply listing activities.
Sometimes the communications work had a measurable result
One of the most interesting parts of working on camp communications was seeing the connection between what we put out into the world and what happened afterward.
My first year as coordinator, after a period of recruitment and promotion, camp had a particularly strong year, with approximately 340 campers — substantially higher than the roughly 170–220 campers the camp typically enrolled in a year.
Some programs filled and developed waitlists.
Obviously, there are a lot of factors involved in enrollment, and I wouldn't claim that one website update or one promotional campaign caused that growth.
But I was proud to see the communications work contributing to a broader effort to get more families interested in camp and help them understand what they were signing up for.
There was a lot happening behind the scenes
Camp programming involves a LOT of logistics.
I helped coordinate schedules, registration, volunteers, staffing, communications, and the practical details required to keep programs running.
That meant constantly balancing what we wanted to offer with the people, time, and resources available.
A schedule isn't particularly useful if there aren't enough people to run the activity.
A great program idea doesn't help if nobody knows when or where it's happening.
And a full registration list creates its own set of problems when you have to make sure everyone is accounted for and the people running the program have what they need.
I liked that combination of planning and problem-solving.
I also learned how much volunteers matter
Camp depended heavily on volunteers, which meant that coordinating people was a major part of making the programs work.
Volunteers needed clear information, realistic expectations, and enough support to actually do what they had agreed to do.
At the same time, volunteers are people with their own lives, limitations, and ideas.
You can't manage volunteers exactly like employees.
A lot of the work was therefore about communication: making sure people knew what was happening, answering questions, solving problems, and figuring out where someone could be most useful.
That experience has stayed with me in the other volunteer and community projects I've worked on since.
The part I probably remember most
Camp taught me that people don't experience the planning.
They experience the result.
A camper doesn't see the registration spreadsheet, the staffing schedule, the emails, the website updates, or the conversations that happened to make their week possible.
They see the lake.
They make a lifelong friend.
They learn to canoe.
They stay up too late.
They come home with stories.
That has always been one of my favourite things about this kind of work. There's a lot of planning and logistics behind a good experience, but the point of all that work is to make the experience itself feel easy and meaningful for the person on the other side of it.
What this actually involved
Program coordination
Summer programming, schedules, registration, staffing, volunteers, logistics, and day-to-day program delivery
Communications
Website content, social media, email, print materials, promotional campaigns, photography, and video
Digital projects
Website redesign, content management, branding, and communications systems
Volunteer coordination
Recruiting, organizing, communicating with, and supporting volunteers
Event & program logistics
Coordinating people, schedules, resources, facilities, and changing priorities
Marketing & outreach
Promoting programs, communicating the camp experience, and reaching prospective campers and families