Flower City Work Camp is a ministry of Flower City Outreach, an organization that unites Rochester-area churches to deliver a range of services into the City of Rochester.  Flower City Work Camp began in 1985 with a group of local youth leaders who had a desire to see their students serve in a meaningful inner-City ministry and a desire to impact the Rochester area with the life-changing message of Christ’s love. Using a national model, we developed a Rochester-based ministry that reaches the City with God’s love in very practical ways.

Each year, students and adults from nearly 60 churches deliver over 30,000 hours of service by improving homes, mentoring youth at basketball and soccer camps and connecting with younger children in neighborhood Sidewalk Clubs to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to some of the neediest areas of our city.

Flower City Work Camp serves through:

• Home repairs, including painting, flooring, simple construction, cleaning, yard work, and repairing or replacing ceilings, windows and doors.
• Sidewalk Clubs, at which children play games, sing songs, make crafts, eat snacks and, most importantly, hear the life-changing gospel of Jesus Christ.
• Basketball and Soccer camps where children and teens learn Bible verses and how much God loves them.  
• Agency Teams that partner with local nonprofits to assist and bless by tackling spring clean-up tasks, sorting and organizing donations, and other helpful tasks.
• Prayer walks, during which campers bring the needs of our city before God.

Not only does Work Camp provide students in Grades 7 through 12 with a tremendous opportunity to serve God, a lot of effort and planning is also put into challenging the students to grow in their faith. Morning devotions and evening programs filled with worship, prayer, testimonies and teaching are designed to bring students into the presence of God and send them home energized, changed and strengthened.

While students do much of the work, Work Camp is truly a ministry of the entire local church. Youth leaders, parents, pastors and other adults from participating churches are vital and required to make the ministry work. And there are many different opportunities for adults to serve, including as Site Leaders or Sidewalk Club Leaders, food prep and delivery, security, first aid, Home Base supervision and clean-up, or materials transportation.