During May-August: Talk to your trip’s program manager. You should be contacted by them via email or phone in May. If you do not know who this is, contact the Program Director. Year Round Program Director: Jenna Brock

For the most part, all of the activities during your trip are adaptable to almost all levels of physical fitness. If you are overly concerned about any of your participants, feel free to contact the director of your specific program for more details. Also, please notify your director if any of your participants have major physical limitations.

Swimming is a core part of most wilderness trips, but we do not force anyone to swim. Any time your group goes swimming, there must be a certified lifeguard present and on duty. For wilderness trips, your AdventureServe staff, or at least one of them, will be a certified lifeguard, to enable your group to swim and bathe. If you have any lifeguards in your group, they can be backup lifeguards, if the AdventureServe staff are busy doing other tasks. Please ask your lifeguards to bring their certification with them, as the AdventureServe staff must see their cards before they can recognize their qualifications.

All participants, except Wilderness Backcountry and those that ask for indoor lodging, sleep in 6-person dome tents by Kelty. All tents have a floor, screens and a rain fly. We also set up the tents with a tarp between the tent and the ground to help avoid moisture. We make intentional efforts to keep all participants dry, but it is camping. Occasionally things will get damp due to rain and dew, especially if items are touching the outside edges of the tent. Many Wilderness groups do a back country trip that will last 2-4 days. During this time the group will sleep under tarp shelters constructed with Noah Tarps.

All AdventureServe staff members are trained in our severe weather procedure. The procedure includes working with local park rangers and officials to determine the severity of the weather and leading groups to approved shelter in the area.

Although the weather varies, the average summer highs are between 82-90°F. The average lows are around 60°F. It typically rains about 5 inches a month, so chances are high that it will rain at least once while you are in Kentucky or Tennessee.

AdventureServe Ministries partners with many local social agencies that recommend areas for our programming. Our Executive Director has been working and living in the Central Kentucky area for ten years and knows many areas in need of service. Our goal is to partner with other organizations when possible to provide work for your group that is part of a larger overall picture. We want our efforts to be focused and in line with the efforts of others. Further, we partner with various types of ministry with the hope of providing your group with a wide range of service activities.

There should be a 1 to 7 leader/student ratio for each group. A leader is expected to be at least 18 years of age, preferably older. If there is even one student of a gender in your group, there must be an accompanying leader of that same gender.

Yes, AdventureServe Ministries staff will be actively involved in the weeks project. They are prepared to provide supervision, safety, first aid, logistics, limited technical support, materials, and encouragement. Generally, their roll will be to fill in the gaps that site chaperones do not or cannot provide for, as well as upholding the standards and program of AdventureServe Ministries. They DO NOT serve as the primary worksite leader/supervisor unless prior arrangements have been made with the Home Repair Director. In some cases, AdventureServe Ministries staff will manage logistics for multiple worksites. In this case, they will typically spend the morning with one worksite and the afternoon at another. Worksite leaders (your chaperones) must be informed and prepared for this.

The Home Repair Mission focuses predominately upon serving the elderly, widows, disabled/handicapped individuals, and single parents. We also serve low-income families that do not meet the above criteria, though these situations are approached with great caution. AdventureServe Ministries partners with many local agencies that screen applicants and recommend individuals for our program. This gives us greater assurance that we are helping those who sincerely need it, not those trying to abuse the system. AdventureServe Ministries also solicits applications directly from homeowners through advertisements in local newspapers, points of sale, etc. Applications for assistance accompanied by a social agency recommendation receive priority in our system and alternate applications are scrutinized and approved by our Program Director and/or Site Development Personnel.

Rain rarely completely debunks our daily worksite activity. Daytime rain showers are typically short and sweet, providing a good opportunity for a water break, developing relationships with the homeowner(s), or time for a game/initiative. If rain is light, we will usually work through it. A long afternoon rain that doesn’t seem to let up might provide an opportunity to take a hike to a waterfall or visit another local attraction. If you’re scheduled to replace a roof and it’s forecasted to thundershower all week, we will consider changing your scheduled project to something more appropriate (The primary reason for bringing all tools on the General Tool List).