Atlanta Week-Long Program
This
information is provided to help your group plan for the DOOR-Atlanta
experience. It provides background on the DOOR program, specifics on
who can participate, Registration procedures, schedules, cost, Open House Weekends, transportation, insurance, and other logistics.
If you are considering a trip in the fall of 2008, please contact
the City Director of your preferred city or Christie Sears or 303-295-3667
If you are considering a trip in the year 2009, please see our 2009 updates.
Who Can Participate?
The
DOOR program is designed for participants from high-school age, college
age and adults and is open to all denominations. DOOR asks that groups
provide one adult sponsor per every five youth. Smaller groups may be
paired together, allowing participants from different places and
denominations to share in service.
What Will You Do?
A
typical DOOR-Atlanta week begins upon arrival Sunday evening after
supper and ends with departure after lunch on Friday. A three-hour
orientation/logistics session Sunday evening helps prepare everyone for
the week. For service assignments and meal preparation, your group will
be divided into teams of 4-6 participants with one adult sponsor as
designated leader. Teams are responsible for preparing and cleaning up
after all meals eaten together by the group. Groceries, menus, and
cooking instructions are provided, and a DOOR staff person is on hand
for reference.
Once assigned to work and meal
teams, participants generally stay with those same teams for the week.
Work teams usually spend each day at a different service assignment.
However, due to the nature of some assignments, there are cases where
we will ask the same work team to stay at a site for more than one day.
Our goal is that all participants will have a variety of experiences
that they can then share with each other.
Embedded in the past of Atlanta are many of the great human questions
of war and peace, of justice and oppression, of defeat and rebirth. By
coming to Atlanta, we hope our groups will have a positive experience
serving and learning in an urban context. Opportunities to serve in
Atlanta may include interacting with homeless people at shelters and
soup kitchens, making and delivering meals for homebound AIDS and
cancer patients, working at summer day camps for children in
economically impoverished neighborhoods, sorting food and clothes at
distribution centers, visiting with senior citizens and hearing the
stories of the civil rights movement, or just walking through
neighborhoods and becoming acquainted with people and places.
What Will The Schedule Be Like?
To see a Typical Week-Long Schedule
Although the schedule varies and is flexible, a typical day may go as follows:
Evening sessions include worship, presentation, and group
reflection. Thursday evening is set aside for a time together to help
participants reflect on and process what they have seen, felt, and
learned during the course of the week. This is perhaps the most
important time of the week. Issues raised are addressed in light of our
calling as Christians to love others and to respond to those in need.
On Wednesday evening a formal reflection time is not scheduled. DOOR
does not provide supper on this evening, so most groups choose to use
this evening free time to eat out and explore the city as they wish.
(Please keep in mind that some work teams may not finish their
assignment until early evening.)
Cost and Registration for the Atlanta Week Long Program
Participant cost for 2008 is $275.
This covers food, lodging, materials for service experiences, t-shirts,
and program administration. Our registration process has several stages:
- Registration:Return
the group application and the non-refundable $75 per person
registration fee. This deposit will be applied, in its entirety, toward
your total group cost and will hold your requested date.
- Deposit:
- For groups coming in the spring, between February 1 and May 31: $100 per person deposit is due on January 15.
- For
groups coming in the summer, between June 1 and August 31: $100 per
person deposit is due on March 1 (groups smaller than 40).
If your group is larger than 40 people and you sign up before January 1, 2008, your $100 deposit is due February 1, 2008.
- For groups coming between September 1 and January 31: $100 deposit is due 10 weeks prior to your trip.
This deposit is per person.
This means that if you deposit for 10 people and only bring nine, you
lose the deposit for that one person. You may increase your numbers, if space is available,
with a telephone call to us. Again this deposit is non-refundable. Upon
receipt of this deposit, we will send you an orientation package,
including a statement of funds received and balance due upon arrival.
The orientation packet is intended to prepare your group for the DOOR
experience, and we strongly recommend you take the time to go over it
with your whole group.
- Balance is due 3 weeks before arrival.
- All funds received must be in U.S. currency.
- For groups registering after Mar 1, please contact the Christie in the National Office for deposit schedule.
Start your registration process for a 2008 trip by filling out our Online Registration (Fill out, print and send in with deposit), or if you prefer, filling out a PDF version of the Registration ( Print, fillout, and send in with deposit.).
Open House Weekends
The purpose of the leader's open house weekend is to help you prepare
your group to come to DOOR. Over the weekend you’ll be able to stay in
the facility, tour the city and some of the partner sites, as well as
meet other leaders. In many weekends we discuss culture, service,
conflict management, team building, preparing your group for your trip
and reentry- as time allows. Groups that go on short-term mission trips
trained and well-prepared accomplish more, understand their experiences
more deeply, and enjoy their trip more. The learning becomes
life-changing and lasting.
We invite one leader from each
group to attend the open house weekend, but others may come along for
only $50 per person. For more information about the open house
weekends, visit our Open House page.
What To Bring To Atlanta
Go to the: Atlanta Packing List
While
in Atlanta, groups will be staying in an urban church, sleeping in the
sanctuary and Sunday school rooms on the floor. Each participant should
bring a sleeping bag or set of sheets, sleeping mat (some foam mats
will be available), towel and toiletries. Work clothing is required and
other casual/sport clothing as desired. Some agencies require that
participants wear long pants and closed-toe shoes. There are no laundry
facilities. Participants should also bring Bibles and notebooks.
Remember other fun things such as guitar, banjo, games, Frisbee, soccer
balls, and other recreational items. A detailed list of what to bring
will be included in the orientation materials sent in the spring.
Transportation
The
DOOR-Atlanta program relies on a combination of public transportation
(subway and buses) and the vehicles you come in for transportation of
your work teams to and from service assignments around Atlanta. You are
responsible for driving your own vehicles around the city. If you are
thinking of coming by plane, train, school or touring bus, you have two
options. First, you may rent vans in Atlanta as needed to transport
your group to service assignments. Second, you may choose to use public
transportation for your entire experience.
There
is a $15 additional cost per person if you choose the public
transportation option (this option is limited to 30 people per week
during the summer and 12 people per week during the spring/non-summer).
Riding public transportation throughout the city is often a valuable
learning experience and a good way to see the city from a local
perspective.
Health Insurance
There
is always the chance that volunteers will need medical care. Accidents
can and do happen while at the service experiences, during recreational
activities and free time, even on the trip to and from Atlanta. The
DOOR program does not carry medical insurance for participants. We ask
that group leaders make sure that all group members have insurance and
that the Medical Release Forms (sent to groups along with orientation
materials) are completed and available to our staff upon arrival.
And Finally...
Additional Atlanta Information
In
addition to learning about service, we hope DOOR participants will have
fun! The DOOR staff tries to ensure that not all your time in Atlanta
is spent working or being involved in serious discussions. We have
built into the schedule one free evening and free time each afternoon.
Recreation activities include volleyball, soccer, basketball and
frisbee at the church as well as exploring parts of the city on your
own.
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