College Groups or Individual Volunteers

General Information

Below are the links for College group electronic registration and orientation.  Each group may have 8 participants including one male chaperone and one female chaperone. Students must be 18 years or older in order to participate in our service retreat activities.

The participant fee is $325 per person ($300 for West Virginia residents). Please read all provided policy information, including our vehicle policy because groups will be held responsible for following all specified policies. 

You are also highly encouraged to check out the “About Us” and “Resources” sections to learn more about the Farm, Doddridge County, Appalachia, and many of the intricacies about what a week with us might look like. Click here for driving directions or for our group week calendar.  

Please note, we will be requiring all volunteers and chaperones to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 to attend any of our volunteer group weeks in 2023. Proof of vaccination will be required before you are allowed on Nazareth Farm property. See full policy below, it is subject to change.

Registration and Forms

• Registration for a College 2023-2024 Group Weeks is currently open! Register HERE! The priority registration deadline is April 15, 2023.
  
  • Please review the registration policy below.
• Volunteer Forms Click here.
• Group Week Calendar Click here.

Before You Arrive

• • Transportation policy
  • Winter packing list
  • Summer packing list

COVID-19 Policy

Nazareth Farm, Inc. takes Covid-19 very seriously. We feel a responsibility to protect our community and continue with our mission and ministry in a responsible manner. This is especially important as our immediate community includes an infant and an immunocompromised individual, who are all at higher risk of becoming severely ill with Covid-19, as well as many at-risk individuals in our wider community. We understand that volunteers likely will be coming to the Farm with a wide spectrum of thoughts and feelings, personal stories, and personal impacts, as a result of Covid-19 experiences. We firmly believe the Farm has provided a space of safe expression and compassion, of hope, of healing, and growth in faith.

As part of our community, we expect you to be responsible and cautious in the days leading up to your group week, your travel to the Farm, and your time with us. These policies are for all volunteers this summer including chaperones, students, and family week participants. Our staff, sojourners, and other visitors are following the same vaccination and testing guidelines.

• Vaccination
  • All volunteers are required to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 per CDC guidelines. Booster shots are required if it has been longer than 5 months from your second vaccine.
  • If you or another volunteer has a medical reason to not get vaccinated, please contact nazarethfarm@gmail.com or 304-782-2742 to discuss further.
• Testing
  • Volunteers are required to take an at-home Covid-19 test the day of their arrival before coming to Nazareth Farm and show a negative test result. You should have the results of this test before you meet with your group to leave.
    1. If you meet as a group to take your test, one positive person would mean the entire group would not be able to attend Nazareth Farm. If each individual tests at home, you have then protected the rest of your group from exposure.
    2. If you are leaving your home on Saturday, please take the test before you start your journey.
  • The only exception to this policy is volunteers who have tested positive for Covid-19 in the past 3 months, recovered, and show no new symptoms of Covid-19. More information about accessing testing can be found on the CDC website.
  • While not a requirement, it is recommended that groups bring rapid at-home tests in case they are needed during the week or during travel.
• Traveling to Nazareth Farm
  • Your group should make as few stops as possible, for food and bathrooms, and always mask while inside stops. This means you should only eat food outside or in your car. Make sure to have hand sanitizer for your group.
  • You should wear a high-quality mask, ideally a KN95 mask, or a surgical mask and a cloth mask together, to minimize your risk of infection. Read more from the CDC.
• Symptomatic Individuals or Exposure
  • People with a new cough, sore throat, loss of taste or smell, or fever during the week prior to their planned Nazareth Farm trip must not participate unless they have a physician’s note with an alternate diagnosis and a negative PCR test for Covid-19.
  • If you have been exposed to someone with Covid-19, you are expected to follow the current CDC Quarantine Guidelines. Depending on the date of exposure, you may need to stay home from your trip to Nazareth Farm, even if you test negative the day of arrival.
  • If a volunteer, sojourner, or staff member becomes symptomatic during their time at the Farm, they will be given a test at Nazareth Farm or taken for testing at a local urgent care. They can be isolated from the rest of the group in our staff house while we await results. Depending on the situation, a volunteer and their group may be sent home. This decision will be at the discretion of the Nazareth Farm staff, and volunteers are expected to respect the decision we make.

Thank you for your commitment to protect others, especially our vulnerable community members and other volunteers. For further clarification or concerns, please contact nazarethfarm@gmail.com or 304-782-2742.

College Registration Policy

In response to an overwhelming amount of interest in bringing a group to Nazareth Farm and in an effort to provide equal opportunity to each group who would like to come to Nazareth Farm, the following Registration Policy has been set by our Board of Directors. Please review it carefully as you complete the registration application for your group.

For schools that are interested in volunteering, the priority deadline will remain April 15, 2023 for college Service Retreats. All applications submitted on or before the registration deadline will be treated as having been received on the registration deadline. Every attempt will be made to accommodate the desired weeks for those applications submitted by the registration deadline. When more applications have been received than there are slots available, slots will be assigned by means of a lottery system. Any group not selected by the lottery system will be put on a waiting list and will be contacted if any spots open up. Any applications submitted after the registration deadline will be put on the ‘late’ waiting list and will be offered slots, if any are available, in priority of submission dates as previously described.

For group weeks, payment in full for the number of spots reserved must be payed in full prior to 90 days before the school or parish’s retreat week begins. If payment is not received by that date, Nazareth Farm will notify you and will fill the spot with another group. If no new volunteer group is found to fill those volunteer spots, the original group will be responsible for full payment 90 days before the volunteer weeks. If an entire group must cancel after the 90 day deadline, your payment will NOT be refunded. Payment will only be refunded prior to the 90 day deadline. If groups show up with fewer volunteers than reserved and paid for, the amount will NOT be refunded unless the group called ahead and­ Nazareth Farm was able to replace the spots. If Nazareth Farm can fill the spot, you will be refunded for every person we replace. The deposit of $50 per person is non-refundable unless your group is not selected in the lottery system. The 90 day deadline is the last date to make any changes in numbers or cancellations without penalty.

Groups who submit a completed application by the designated date, yet due to capacity constraints do not receive a group week will be given priority the next year if a completed application is received by the annual designated date. Groups associated with staff and board members do not receive preferential treatment in the selection process.

Allergy Information

Nazareth Farm is not a peanut-free environment. However, we will do our best to create a safe environment for participants with allergies. If you do have allergies, please contact the Volunteer Coordinator at vcoordinator@nazarethfarm.org well before your trip so we can best prepare our facilities.

Cell Phone Policy

Cell phones do not receive service in the valley where Nazareth Farm is located. Volunteers and chaperones should not expect that they will be able to use cell phones while they are here. We expect chaperones and group leaders to collect cell phones prior to the group’s arrival. We have a lock box available to store cell phones in our office. Nazareth Farm’s office phone number (304-782-2742) will be available in case of emergencies. Otherwise, please do not plan to contact participants during the retreat week to help create an immersive experience for all.