Johns River Valley Camp & Retreat Center · Est. 1936 Talk to us 828-387-5736
Aerial view of the road running through the Johns River valley
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Youth groups & college teams

Your mission trip, handled.

Lodging, meals, vetted service projects, and a real day off — all in one price. You bring the students and the energy.

What a week looks like

Real work, real people, and time to process it.

Groups serve alongside established local ministries in the Southern Appalachian Mountains — building ramps for elderly neighbors, staffing food pantries, running children’s day camps, and cleaning up streams and roadsides.

The work is arranged before you arrive. Nobody spends Monday morning on the phone looking for a project.

Evenings are for group devotions and debriefing, because the point is not the ramp. It is what students notice while building it.

  • Vetted projects arranged with local partners before your group arrives
  • All meals in the dining hall, plus packed lunches on work days
  • Tools, materials, and a project leader on site each day
  • A Wednesday off for waterfalls, canoeing, or tubing the Johns River
  • Guided evening devotions and space for your own program

Trip facts

  • Youth mission trip$395 /person
  • College service trip$250 /person
  • Staff & faculty advisorsFree
  • Group size12–60
  • Length5–7 days
  • SeasonMar–Apr, Sep–Nov
  • Deposit$250 /group
Plan your trip

2026 trip themes

Choose the work your group cares about.

Every theme runs the same five-to-seven-day structure with different projects. Tell us which one fits and we will build the week around it.

Theme 01

Rural Appalachia

The most requested theme. Groups work on home repair for elderly and low-income neighbors who cannot manage it themselves.

  • Wheelchair ramp construction
  • Roofing and small home repairs
  • Yard cleanup and weatherizing

Theme 02

Unhoused Assistance

Partnership with local ministries serving people experiencing homelessness and food insecurity across the county.

  • Cooking and serving meals
  • Sorting donations at a thrift store
  • Stocking and staffing a food pantry

Theme 03

Environmental Justice

Hands-on stewardship of the watershed your group is living in for the week, with the Johns River as the classroom.

  • Paddle-and-pick-up river cleanup
  • Roadside and trail clearing
  • Stream bank stabilization
Students paddling a raft together on the lake during an afternoon off

For college and university groups

Spring and fall break service trips.

Built for campus ministries, service-learning courses, and alternative break programs. Groups arrive Sunday and leave Friday, with an off day on Wednesday to see the mountains.

$250 per student, and staff and faculty advisors come free. That covers all lodging, all meals, and full project organization — tools, materials, and a site leader included.

  • Handicap ramp building and home repair
  • River cleanup and weatherizing homes
  • Evening reflection space for your own curriculum
  • Wednesday free for hiking, waterfalls, or Asheville
Request a brochure

Why groups come back

We do the logistics. You do the ministry.

One price, no surprises

Lodging, meals, projects, tools, and materials in a single per-person rate. No facility fee, no rental charge for the climbing wall, no invoice at the end.

Projects arranged in advance

Our staff maintain relationships with local partners year-round, so your group walks onto a real job with a real plan instead of hunting for one.

A place to be quiet

Two outdoor chapels, a river, and no screens. Students who arrive loud tend to leave thinking, which is the whole point.

Start here

Tell us about your group.

We will send available dates, a sample schedule, and a firm quote within one business day. Groups book six to nine months out for spring and fall.

Call Plan your trip