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Want to become a member of the Opemikon Rover Crew and Venturer Company?
Email us at crew@opemikon.org and tell us you’re interested!
About the Crew
The Opemikon Rover Crew and Venturer Company (“The Crew” for short) is made up of Venturers aged 15-17, Rovers aged 18-27, and Scouters 28+. The Crew volunteers at Camp Ope for anything from running Program to doing Maintenance, but our main function is volunteering on weekends from September to June to cook for Scouting, Guiding, or Youth Groups that are camping at Opemikon for the weekend.
You have to be invited to become a member of the Crew. Many members invite friends or fellow Scouting youth to join the Crew. Others are invited after going up to Ope and inquiring about joining the Crew; all they need to do is email crew@opemikon.org to express interest in joining to be invited!
The Crew has a long history of training its younger members. You don’t need any kitchen or Ope experience to start volunteering with the Crew, we make sure that any new members are paired with experienced members.
What does a typical weekend of volunteering look like?
A typical weekend consists of meals between Friday Mug-up and Saturday Breakfast. Some groups request less meals. Crew members sleep in the Crew Cabin, which is just steps away from the Kitchen.
Each meal is prepped, cooked, and cleaned up by the Crew in the industrial sized kitchen following all Public Health codes and laws. Most meals are served family style as a buffet; a serving dish of each item is put together in the kitchen by the Crew, then Scouters from each table bring the serving dishes out to their table to serve the campers. The Crew eats any leftover food after each meal service and cleanup is done.
Typically, Crew volunteers will start arriving at Camp after dinner on Friday to start prepping Mug-Up and Saturday’s meals. Cooking on Saturday will start between 6-7am. After Breakfast service and cleanup is done, the Crew eats Breakfast, then starts prepping Lunch. After Lunch service and cleanup is done, the Crew eats Lunch, then there is typically a few hours of break time. Some members use this time to volunteer at the Camp in other ways like running programs or doing maintenance, some people will go on hikes or swim (in the warmer months), some will cook up elaborate treats, some will nap or play video games in the Crew Cab. After break, we go back up to prep Dinner, serve, clean, and prep for Breakfast. The day is usually done around 9:30 pm. After Breakfast is done on Sunday, the Kitchen gets a deep clean and shut down before everyone goes home around 10-11am.
Weekends range in size from 20 campers to be catered for, to 600 campers to be catered for. Those small weekends can be catered by 1 experienced Crew member, but most weekends there will be 2-5 Crew members in the kitchen.
Some Benefits to being on Crew:
Crew weekends are fun! Many of us are great friends who use Crew weekends to socialize while we help to make Opemikon enjoyable for all Campers. We play music while we work, and there are lots of opportunities to get creative in the kitchen or to experiment. Its hard work and very rewarding!
Many members of the Crew are hired to work at Ope’s Summer Camp.
High School students who volunteer with the Crew for one full weekend get 40 volunteer hours to go towards their High School Graduation credits.
Crew looks GREAT on a resume; industrial cooking experience, volunteering, working with kids, teamwork, leadership, mentoring etc.
The Crew pays for members to get their Food Handlers Certification, which can be useful to anyone who has interest in working in the food service industry.
The Crew will also pay for Ropes Certifications and First Aid courses, as many of its members also volunteer at Camp in program capacities.
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