In 1989, workcamp originated with 17 students and their adult sponsors heading out for a week-long mission trip to do home repairs for low-income/disabled families in Bolivar, Tennessee. After a couple of years the team decided that there were many under-resourced families right here in the Northeast who could benefit from the type of work they did. Beginning in 1995, camp began inviting churches nationwide to join in. A youth group from Illinois expressed interest in joining NE students. It was during this time, because of the increased number of youth and the need for more residents’ homes, workcampNE began working closely with Community Action Programs.
Current Directors Ken and Marcia Therrien have been providing oversight to workcampNE since 2003; joined by their son, Marc, in 2010. Ken had spent the previous four years as a crew leader prior to assuming his current role as Executive Director. A volunteer staff of approximately 20 people helped by lending a hand at various custom day/week events held throughout the year. The year 2006 saw wcNE expand to two weeks enabling campers to work on 45 different housing sites through the efforts of individuals. In 2007, workcampNE incorporated as a 501(c)(3); a federally recognized non-profit. 2010 was a year of growth for workcampNE. A third week of camp was added to open things up for Jr. High School students. At this time, Marc Therrien came on board full-time as wcNE’s Programming Director and his wife, Jessica, as the Sr. Administrator. Marc’s seniority surpasses all as he began his workcampNE career back in 1998 as a middle school student camper! Marc has since moved into the role of Director, while Jess has moved into the role of full-time-mom to their three children.
The ministry now runs between four to seven week-long camps each year. Over 500 volunteers work on repairs to 60 or more homes. Although some of the faces have changed, it still takes three full-time Directors and a volunteer team of 20 people to run the day-to-day of camp life.
While history is important, workcampNE prefers to look to the future! With God’s leading we’re looking forward to more weeks of camp per summer, more residents helped, more students impacted for His name and a richer history being developed.