Read the stories of our volunteers

Volunteering at Yuppi camps is an intense and touching experience. Here's how the volunteers experience it all.

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A Yuppi volunteer's day at the camp.

⏰ Your alarm goes off at 7 a.m., you snooze for another 10 minutes, then you take a quick shower, check the daily program and get dressed for the first activity - long pants for equestrianism and archery, short pants for rowing and climbing. You look for your badge, put on your watch and your fanny pack, and go out to the volunteers' living room, where someone who got up a little earlier than you must have already made a large batch of coffee. ☕ This makes you smile. You sip your coffee, exchange a few words with the others, then leave. It is 8:30, you need to wake up your team of children.

🥱 Everyone is still very sleepy, but they are sharing excitedly last night’s events. You ask them to hurry up, go brush their teeth, put on the right clothes and fill their water bottles. Then you wait together for the Medical Elf, who will measure the children's blood sugar levels. You go to breakfast, but you must turn back at least once, because someone left something in his room during the morning rush.

😀 After breakfast: if you are a 🔹Playful Elf, you prepare your activities; if you are a🔹Medical Elf, you go to prepare the medicine box and sit near the children during camp activities, so that you are easily accessible if you are needed; if you are a 🔹Cottage Elf, you take the children to the activities, help them set up and proudly watch them cross their limits. 📈  You pay close attention to their phones, as they indicate their blood sugar levels. Some children have to be taken to the Medical Elf because their blood sugar level has dropped. Time just flies. Lunch, then some rest, then comes the next activity.

😍 As days go by, the children and the Elves grow closer to each other: you already have your inside jokes, you know who needs your hugs and who needs only a high five. During the evening program, you play together, laugh and have fun. 🌙 Then, during the evening conversation you become a little more sensitive than usual, since so much happened that day. You are tired, but when you hear the children speak about their daily experiences, accomplishments, and see their proudness, you are filled with energy again. After making sure that everyone is in bed 💤, you head towards the Elves' house. You wish good luck and patience to your night watch colleagues and you can not wait to get into bed. But the atmosphere in the living room is so good, 🗣️ that you spend some more time there, chatting with your fellow elves.

🌱 You realise more and more every day, that the Yuppi experience is something indescribable. By the end of the camp, you are veeeery tired, but you also know: you will come back next year.

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For more information please contact us!

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Gyéresi Blanka

Coordinator - Volunteer Management