Denver Week Long Programs
Your week in Denver-
Insurance and Other logistics.
If you have questions about availabilty of a particular week, contact Christie Sears in our National Office at 303-295-3667.
If you are considering a trip in the fall of 2008 or if you have questions not covered here, please contact the City Director, Molly Sila
Who Can Participate?
The DOOR Denver program is designed primarily for participants from high-school age and beyond and is open to all denominations. DOOR asks that one adult sponsor accompany every five youth who make up the group. For a week-long experience, DOOR-Denver can accommodate up to 70 total participants (youth and sponsors.) More than one group can combine in a week up to the maximum. If you have a middle school group or a combined middle school and high school group, please contact City Director, Molly Sila to discuss the possibility. Due to agency restrictions, we cannot accomodate youth under 13 years old. However, if you are interested in a time designed for families, please make special arrangements with the City Director.
What Will You Do?
A
typical DOOR-Denver week begins on arrival Sunday evening after supper
and ends with departure after lunch the following Friday.
A
two-hour logistics session Sunday evening helps
prepare everyone for the week.
You'll 
divide your group into smaller work
teams, (4-6 participants with one adult sponsor as designated leader)
that are also your meal teams.
Meal teams are responsible for helping to prepare and clean up after all meals. Groceries,
menus, and cooking instructions are provided by DOOR staff. 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.
Examples of service assignments are preparing and serving meals at a
soup kitchen; helping with children whose moms may be looking for a
job, in school, or living on the streets; lawn and building maintenance
for individuals, seniors and/or for organizations that temporarily
house homeless families; stocking shelves in food banks; sorting
donated clothing; taking a tour of a homeless shelter; meeting with and
listening to groups that are working for change in the city; conversing
and singing with senior citizens.
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:
6:30 a.m. |
Wake up, prepare, eat and clean up breakfast |
8:00 a.m. |
Travel to service assignment |
Noon |
Lunch at work site |
4:00 p.m. |
Return to FMC & DICP, clean-up, free time |
5:30 p.m. |
Supper at First Mennonite Church |
7:00 p.m. |
Evening session/ Group Reflection |
Evening sessions include worship, presentations, 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 each day. 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 eat out and spend the evening seeing more of Denver. (Please keep in mind that some work teams may not finish their assignments until early evening.)
Cost and Registration for the Denver Week Long Program
Participant cost is $295. This covers food, lodging, materials for service experiences, and program administration. Our registration process has several stages:
- Registration: Return the group application and $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, 2009. - 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.
- Additional charges, i.e. all-public trans and extra night, are due 3 weeks prior to arrival.
| Step 1 | Step 2 | Step 3 | ||||
| Season | Definition | Deposit due with Registration Form | Deposit | Deposit Due Date | Balance Due 3 weeks prior to Arrival | Total Cost |
| Spring | Feb. 1 to May 31 | $75 per person to hold your date | $100 per person | January 15 | $100 per person | $295 per person |
| Summer-groups less than 40 | June 1 to Aug. 31 | $75 per person to hold your date | $100 per person | March 1 | $100 per person | $295 per person |
| Summer-groups larger than 40 | June 1 to Aug. 31 | $75 per person to hold your date | $100 per person | January 1 | $100 per person | $295 per person |
| Summer-groups registering after Mar. 1 | June 1 to Aug. 31 | $75 per person to hold your date | $100 per person | TBD when registration is received | $100 per person | $295 per person |
| Fall/Winter | Sept. 1 to Jan 1 | $75 per person to hold your date | $100 per person | 10 weeks prior to arrival | $100 per person | $295 per person |
| Late registration | Apply after deposit due date | $75 per person to hold your date | $100 per person | 10 weeks prior to arrival | $100 per person | $295 per person |
Start the registration process for your 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, fill out, 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, 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 Denver
Go to the: Denver Packing List.
While at DOOR, groups stay in the First Mennonite Church and/or the Denver Inner City Parish. Cooking is done in the church kitchen and participants sleep on the floor in Sunday school rooms. Each participant should bring a sleeping bag, sleeping mat (some camping mats are available), a towel, and toiletries. Work clothing is a must and other casual/sport clothing as desired. There are no laundry facilities at the church. Participants should also bring Bibles and notebooks. The packing list will be included in the Orientation Packet materials sent after your second deposit/payment.
Transportation
The DOOR-Denver program relies on a combination of public transportation (light rail and buses) and the vehicles you come in for transportation of your work teams to and from service assignments around Denver. 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 Denver as needed to transport your group to service assignments. Second, you may choose to use public transportation for your entire experience. There is a $20 additional cost per person (this option is limited to the summer and to 25 people per week) if you choose the public transportation option. Riding public transportation throughout the city is often a valuable learning experience and a good way to see the city from a local perspective. For those arriving in school or touring buses, you may be required to park your bus somewhere other than the host site due to limited parking space.
Health Insurance
While participating in the DOOR program, there is always the chance that volunteers will need medical care. Accidents can and do happen while at the service assignments, during recreational activities and free time, even on the trip to and from Denver. Since 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 DOOR Medical Release Forms (sent along with orientation materials) are completed and available to our staff while your group is in Denver.
And Finally...
In addition to learning about service, we hope DOOR participants will have fun! The DOOR staff tries to be sure that not all your time in Denver 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 playing volleyball, soccer and frisbee in the park across the street, shooting baskets at a nearby school, lifting weights and swimming at the neighborhood recreation center and exploring parts of the city on your own. We invite participants to bring other recreation and entertainment ideas with them.