Job descriptions are the official HR language. They are the stuff you’ll be held to, but they don’t do a great job of showing you what the day to day is. Or what you’re getting into.

This is my attempt (Hi, I’m Allison) to help you decide if this is really a job you want. If you have any questions along the way, email me akrabill@fcymca.org.

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Immokalee Snapshot

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Who We Are

As a Team

Our year-round team is small, and we all work out of one big office. Our property manager is currently telling me that Tostitos Salsa Verde have no business being that good while I’m trying to write this, and I just covered Line 2 while our camp concierge was on Line 1. There’s almost always a conversation happening about camp, something we need to figure out, and something that has absolutely nothing to do with either.

We’re competitive. If there’s a contest, we’re trying to win it. We really want to win the First Coast Y’s door decorating contest this year. You should also get excited about the year-round team swag drop.

There aren’t that many of us here year-round, so sometimes you do the thing that needs doing. Feed the horses. Answer Line 2. Move the thing. Go find whatever someone left at the waterfront. You can be responsible for the big picture and still be a person who works at camp.

Before every off-season camp, we put a day on the calendar to make props and decorate. That’s the whole day. Musical theater playlist preferred, not required. We care a lot about the details, and we want to be really, really good at what we do.

We may or may not currently be deciding between throwing out a terrible office chair or saving it as a joke for your first day.

As a Camp

We’re an overnight camp first. Summer is our biggest thing, and it’s the thing most of our year revolves around. We have horses, waterfront, adventure, arts, sports, teen leadership, day camp, and all the other things 200ish kids can get themselves into in a week.

But we’re not a camp that closes the gate in August. Kids come back for four off-season camps throughout the school year, and most weekends you’ll find a retreat group, Family Camp, Adventure Guides, or something else happening here.

Immokalee has been around a long time. There are things here that are established and really good. There are things we’re rebuilding. There are things that are growing faster than the systems behind them. And there are things we’re looking at and asking if there’s a better way to do them.

We’re building out our year-round team. We’re pursuing ACA accreditation. We’re investing in the property and our programs. And we’re figuring some things out as we go.

We’re not trying to turn Immokalee into a different camp. We’re trying to make it a really, really good version of this one.

If that excites you, you’re in a good place.

As a Y

We’re not an island out here. Camp Immokalee is part of the First Coast YMCA, which means you get the weird little camp team you’ve been reading about and a much bigger team behind you.

The First Coast Y includes 15 membership locations, a charter school, a food pantry, and programs serving communities across Northeast Florida. We’re a little over an hour from our association office and most of our branches, but we’re very much part of that team. You’ll know our other leaders, work with them, ask them for help, and probably get pulled into things that have absolutely nothing to do with camp.

And they come to us, too. One of our favorite days of the year is our Staff Retreat, when our full-time staff from across the association take over camp for the day.

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Who We Need

We need the heart of camp.

We need the person who walks across camp and gets stopped a million times, not just with questions, but with “HEY, WATCH THIS,” “You’ve got to hear how funny this is,” or “Will you come hang out with us?” The person who staff text on a random Thursday in November with a picture of something that’s supposed to make them laugh. And we really need the person who gets excited about all of those things.

When a third-year camper walks up at check-in, you know their name and what friend they requested to be in their cabin with. When a mom calls pissed because we didn’t honor all eight of her cabin requests (yes, eight), you somehow make a best friend by the end of the call.

But loving camp isn’t enough. We need someone who makes really smart decisions about the big picture. Safety, culture, and quality need to be second nature. We’re pursuing ACA accreditation. We want to be involved in the camping industry and the Y movement. We’re building, learning, trying things, and getting better. Complacent won’t work here. We want to be really, really good at this.

You have to care about the business of camp, too. I check our registration numbers every day. If I forget and ask you, I need you to know. If an email comes in saying another kid registered and you get a little excited about it, you’re probably who I’m looking for.

And, look, I’m not offering to do it, but I’m looking for the person who will ask me to finish up their payroll on Monday afternoon because the CITs REALLY want you in their last-minute skit. I’ll do it. Not because I love payroll (I don’t), but because I can back you up in the office.

Only you can be the heart.

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Your House

INFO-MERCIAL TIME! Do you want a brand new house? 3 bedroom? 2 bathroom? Laundry room? Pantry? WALK IN SHOWER?! Plenty of room for a single person or family?!

Then make your way to this job. It could all be yours.

Thanks to a gift from an incredible anonymous funder, we finished up TWO new houses at camp in May 2026. Walkthrough/donor thank you video below. (Because why not repurpose content, amiright?!)

And, yes, on-site housing is required for this role. But when we say “housing,” this is what we mean. (But it is unfurnished)

P.S. Anyone 16+ who lives with you will need to pass a Level 2 background check and be approved by senior leadership.

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Outside Work

Moving to a whole new place for work is a big decision. Understanding the area and the ins and outs of life here will help you make it.

We’re in Keystone Heights, a small town with lots of options, both for fast food and for ways to get involved. When it comes to big-ticket stores, concerts, etc., we are one of those camps that’s out in the boonies. But when it comes to immediate needs, Keystone has you covered.

Within 10 minutes of camp, you can get to Winn-Dixie, three Dollar Generals, Walgreens, CVS, more auto supply stores than I pray you ever have to frequent, plenty of local restaurants and chains, Ace Hardware, a local ice cream shop, SO many churches, and Keystone Gifts and Guns (if that tells you anything). Within about 10 more, you can get to Walmart, TJ Maxx, a hotel, and more.

When it comes to life in Keystone, it’s small, but there’s stuff to do. There are three restaurants with the Bingo/Music Bingo/trivia rotation, Art Walks in Melrose (10 minutes away), lots of markets, trails, and plenty of civic organizations. You’ll get invites to my kids’ birthday parties and game nights at Roland’s, but you never have to come.

There are also good schools and childcare options around here if that’s something you need. And daycare is much less expensive than what you may be used to. (I can give you recs.)

About 40 minutes away, Gainesville has pretty much everything Keystone doesn’t: Target, bigger shopping, restaurants, breweries, college sports, concerts, healthcare, and all the other things that come with a college town.

A little over an hour away, you have everything Jacksonville and St. Augustine have to offer, and Orlando is just over two hours from camp. And if you haven’t heard about Florida resident prices for Universal and Disney, they are GOOD.

Basically: you live in a small town. You don’t live in the middle of nowhere. And when you need civilization, it’s not that far away.

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Your Boss

Hi. Me again.

I have high expectations. I move fast. I have a lot of ideas. I ask a lot of questions. There is a decent chance I’ll walk into the office wanting to talk about something I thought of five minutes ago. You are allowed to tell me it’s a terrible idea.

Actually, I need you to. Because I don’t want a subordinate. I want a counterpart.

Yes, you’ll report to me. But I want you to own camp. I want you to know it better than I do. Have strong opinions. Make hard decisions. Push back when you think I’m wrong, and tell me when I’m getting too far into something that belongs to you.

That means I have to hold up my end of the deal. If I’m asking you to own camp, I have to give you room to own it. I’ll challenge you and expect a lot from you. But I’ll trust you, back you up, and jump in when you need me.

I also believe camp matters. Immokalee, obviously, but camp as an industry, too. I helped run The Summer Camp Society, I get genuinely excited about going to and speaking at conferences, and I think it’s a reasonable life goal to know as many people in camping as I possibly can. If you go to a conference, I expect you to come back with 140 things you saw, heard, loved, hated, want to try, or want to talk about. We might say no or not right now to 127 of them. I still want the list.

I want us to make each other better at what we do.

And I want Camp Immokalee to be better because both of us are here.

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Questions?

Still have questions? Good. Email me at akrabill@fcymca.org. I’m happy to tell you more about the job, camp, the house, the team, or the office chair we may or may not be saving for you.

Ready?

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Want to Really Nerd Out?

Here’s our new operating model approved with this position.