DuBois Center recently purchased two new horses!
Megan is a black Tennessee Walking Horse and Honey is a red and white Appaloosa. They are making fast friends with the herd and are excited for folks to say hello, feed them tasty treats, and go on trail rides
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We are looking for someone to fill the role of Office Administrator (part-time)
The Office Administrator is the welcoming face and voice of DuBois Center for all who visit the camp and retreat center. Duties include answering general inquiries via phone and email, providing administrative support for programming and events, working with the summer camp registrar to manage camp and guest group registration, as well as general office maintenance.
Given the nature of the position, the office administrator will need to be on-site during work hours; though there is flexibility on days and hours. If interested, please send a statement of interest and resume to director@duboiscenter.org.
We are looking for Golf Carts for DuBois Center. We use them to move people and supplies around during Summer Camp and retreats. When we need to transport a nurse to the rustic side of camp to check on a sick child, a golf cart is our best bet. Time to shuttle snacks to the waterfront, a golf cart would be perfect.
We would prefer electric golf carts, but gas powered is fine too. They need to have at least 4 seats – 6 would be even better. If you know of any available for donation, or to purchase at a reasonable price, please let us know – dcinfo@duboiscenter.org. If any would like to donate toward purchasing a golf cart, please contact the office
We are excited to be offering this popular retreat where DuBois Center is your playground to enjoy time with your dad, son, nephew, uncle, grandson, grandpa, or even someone who you think of as one! Come out and join us.
For full details and pricing, visit the Retreat page, or just register online.
Another crowd favorite returns! This weekend is just like our summer horse camp, but with more time with and on the horses! Also, who said you could only ride horses? We’ll have activities like horse apple bobbing, campfire cookouts with your horse, confecting horse treats, a barn party, and many more horse games.
Designed for participants ages 12 and over who love horses, this could very well be the highlight of your spring!
For full details and pricing, visit the Retreat page, or just register online.
Back again for 2023, this retreat was created just for women ages 20 and over at DuBois Center. Relax and unwind with activities like yoga, nature walks, and spiritual time. This retreat is all about relaxing, getting away from everyday life, and meeting new friends. With an adults-only theme, this is the perfect time to get away and enjoy a stress-free weekend!
BONUS: This weekend will also feature yoga from one of our talented former staff members and massages from two of our most dedicated volunteers! Just two more reasons to get away for the weekend!
For full details and pricing, visit the Retreat page, or just register online.
We are excited to provide two “Meet and Greet” opportunities so you all can meet Noah McCarn, the new Executive Director of DuBois Center (photo right) in person. The first opportunity will be Sunday, March 5 from 3 pm to 5 pm at St. Jacob United Church of Christ in St. Jacob. It is always good to have a face with a name. Here’s your chance to do that with Noah.
The second “Meet and Greet” for Noah McCarn happens on Sunday, April 23 from 3 pm to 5 pm at DuBois Center. It will be more spring-like weather for this opportunity. You may meet Noah and Rylee Bernhardt, Program Director, (photo right) for DuBois Center AND tour the facility. There have been so many improvements to the space through your generosity in donations to DuBois 6.0. This is your chance to see the space and its caretakers. We hope to see you at one of the events.
As we prepare for Summer Camp, we want to add a couple horses to our herd. We’re hoping someone out there knows of a horse or two that might be a good fit for camp that could be donated or purchased at a reasonable cost.
Here’s what we are looking for:
If you know a horse that is available and might be a good camp horse, please contact Scott Kuether at sekuether21@gmail.com.
The Search Committee for the Executive Director is pleased to announce that Noah McCarn has accepted the position of Executive Director for DuBois Center.
After an extensive search process which included: Zoom interviews; submissions of a case study of how they would envision staffing, programming, finances, and partnerships for DuBois Center; checking candidates’ professional references; and an onsite tour of DuBois, the Search Committee unanimously voted to hire Noah as the next Executive Director of DuBois Center.
As the committee continued to be engaged in interviews and conversations with Noah, as well as conversations with those who knew him through our intensive reference checks, we discovered that Noah possessed the qualities we were most looking for in a leader who could help us live into a vision he has of DuBois Center, to be “A gathering place to experience community, unlike other places. A place where people can experience the kin-dom of God, in large and small ways, that they can take back into their lives.”
Noah is a calm, non-anxious presence who brings a team approach to his leadership, as he highly values collaboration and the personal well-being and development of the staff he leads. Noah is a deep thinker and person of faith who is deeply invested in eco-justice and the work of dismantling oppressive systems which do not allow all of God’s beloveds to be seen, heard, valued, and believed. Noah is a get-it-done kind of person, taking the incentive to do the research on how to get things done so that personal and shared deadlines and goals can be met.
Here is what Noah has to say about beginning his ministry at DuBois Center:
“It is an exciting and humbling experience to serve as the next Executive Director of the DuBois Center. As I begin to learn about the camp and talk with people about their camp experiences, I am continually amazed by the passion and love folks have for the DuBois Center.
My love and passion for camp began at a young age in my home state of North Carolina. I attended summer camp at Johns River Valley Camp, the camp associated with the Southern Conference of the UCC, located in the mountains of North Carolina. There, I first felt God’s presence in the company of fellow campers and the wild beings, and it has served as an experience foundational to my being.
After graduating college with degrees in Math and Computer Science and working as a software developer, I decided that working in a cubicle was not for me, so I moved to St. Louis to attend Eden Theological Seminary. While in seminary, I remembered my own camp experiences and became curious about the intersections of faith, Earth, and justice.
In the spring of 2020, I graduated from Eden Seminary in the early days of the pandemic and found jobs as a handyman and then at Human Support Services in Waterloo, IL, at one of their residential mental health facilities serving clients with mental illness.
While I greatly appreciate those experiences, I am grateful to be able to return to the work I am most passionate about. I am committed to creating an inclusive community where we all may grow together in our faith and know God knows us and is connected to one another and all that is.”
The Illinois South Conference sincerely thanks the Executive Director Search Committee for their time and energy in prayerful and Spirit-led discussions, deliberations, and decisions.
Its members were:
Noah will be moving on-site soon and will officially begin his ministry on Monday, January 23, 2023.
We hope you will join us in welcoming Noah McCarn, the new Executive Director of DuBois Center, to the Illinois South Conference.