Unitarian Universalist Day Camp

Chalice camp is a fun and meaningful week-long summer day camp for 1st through 6th graders. Attending camp deepens our Bay Area youth’s understanding of themselves. At camp, they learn values while expanding their knowledge and capacity to be articulate what they believe. The activities during the week include energetic daily outside worship, classic childhood games, drama, art, cooking, community building, and community service based on curriculum developed by religious educators of our faith.
We welcome regular UU church attendees, occasional UU church attendees, and all families interested in learning more about UU values!

NEW Location for 2025:
Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley

Dates: August 4 – August 8, 2025
Hours: Monday-Friday, 9:00am to 4:00pm

Pricing:
Camper: $400/week
CIT: $200/week

Have questions? Send us an email:
kathryn@uucb.org

“It’s a blessing you were born and it matters what you do,
what you know about God is a piece of the truth,
let the beauty you love be what you do,
and you don’t have to do it alone”

Register for camp

Rev. Marcus leads a morning worship circle at the 2024 Chalice Camp.

Curriculum Overview

There are three different Chalice Camp Curriculum – Chalice Camp I: History and Identity and Chalice Camp II: Identity and Justice. Each follow the same educational styles, but follow different content. For 2025, we will use the History and Identity curriculum.

Our history and identity curriculum moves through four theological statements – it’s a blessing we were born, it matters what we do with our lives, what each of us knows about God is a peace of the truth, and we don’t have to do it alone. Chalice Camp highlights kernels of our religious heritage and explores some of the theological turning points in our history that make us who we are today. We bring alive our history in a fun and engaging way that helps children understand our unique religious perspective. Campers explore and experience UU identity, history, and values through energetic worship, games, drama, art, cooking, and community building.

Camp Details

Chalice Camp is designed for kids entering 1st through entering 6th grades. Children will be divided into three or four circle groups, each led by a counselor. The groups are by age and range in size from 4 – 12 kids. Much of the curricular content, therefore, happens in groups of a similar age.

Camp in 2025 will be held on the UUCB campus in Kensington. There will be outdoor games and nature activities, art projects, cooking projects in the kitchen, and plenty of time for free play and values-based learning.

One of the great highlights of Chalice Camp is the number of campers who return to serve as counselors. High school youth work as camp counselors who cultivate safe spaces for children to learn and grow. Middle school students serve as counselors in training (CIT) and assist with snack, art and groups. Camp offers an important leadership development opportunity for young people.

We aim to be an inclusive community by recognizing that all children come to camp with diverse backgrounds and therefore different needs.‍

We believe that Chalice Camp and religious education is as important as soccer camp or horse camp, and by charging market rate, we convey that to the parents. However, we also understand that each family has their own financial considerations, and therefore we do provide scholarships on a case-by-case basis.

Sample Day

A day at Chalice camp is a hoot!
9:15am: Circle groups
10:00am: Worship
10:30am: Group activities – art, cooking, drama, nature hikes
12:00pm: Lunch
1:00pm: Group activities – art, cooking, drama, nature hikes
4:30pm: Circle groups
5:00pm: Pickup
Please note: there will be a special all camp potluck, to which all families are invited on Thursday evening at 5:30 pm.  We hope to see you there!

Leadership

Our East Bay Chalice Camp is lead by Kathryn Jay and Rev. Marcus Leifert. Learn about them more below.

Rev. Kathryn Jay serves the Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley
(UUCB) community as the Director of Family Ministry, where she delights in
having a JETPIG on her desk. Before joining the UUCB staff, she taught
high school for many years and, most recently, ran youth and family
programs – and summer camp – for Urban Adamah, a Jewish farm
in Berkeley.


Rev. Marcus Liefert (he/him) was one of the inaugural Chalice Camp counselors as a high schooler. His passion for building playful and nourishing community is at its peak when the joy of summer camp and the values of Unitarian Universalism collide. He serves as the Minister at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Berkeley and is thrilled to support Unitarian Universalism thriving in the Bay Area by helping to lead Chalice Camp this year.