Frequently Asked Questions of YMCA Camp Hanes

What We Believe

At YMCA Camp Hanes, our mission is simple: Helping all people reach their God-given potential in spirit, mind, and body.

Our Core Values

We live and teach the YMCA’s five core values in everything we do:

• Caring – showing kindness and love in action.
• Honesty – building trust through truth.
• Respect – treating every person with dignity.
• Responsibility – owning our choices and helping our community.
• Faith – we make space for everyone’s unique journey and beliefs while offering Christian principles for guidance.

Our Focus

A Christ Centered environment that seeks to “Love all, serve all”:

• Open and Welcoming – We welcome campers and staff of every faith background. We don’t expect anyone to fit a mold; what matters is that you come as you are and uphold our values.
• Inclusive – Faith can be expressed in many ways. At camp, we honor each person’s journey and make space for questions, doubts, and discovery. 
• Guided by Love – Our Christian emphasis is not about judgment, but about learning to love one another through kindness, compassion, and service. 
• Rooted in Scripture – Each summer we share a theme and verse to guide us. In 2026, our verse is “With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Ephesians 4:2-3

How Faith Looks at Camp

• Morning Chapel: Each day begins with a short gathering of age groups. Chapel's structure is to open with prayer, share a devotion based on our summer theme or core values, sing a song, and close with prayer and our traditional benediction song Go Now in Peace.
• Mealtime Grace: Before meals, we sing or say a grace to express gratitude for the hands that prepared the food and the bounty that we are blessed to share with each other.
• Devotion/Taps Talk: Each evening at the conclusion of our age group programming, our leadership staff lead our campers in a thought of the day followed by prayer and our traditional ending songs of Taps and Follow the Gleam.
• The Ragger Program: Starting at age 12, campers may choose to set personal goals through the YMCA’s Ragger Program. This program is set to help with a self-paced track for digging deeper into faith, personal growth and leadership.
• Staff Chapel: Each Sunday, our staff are invited to gather for a short time of devotion and pray prior to welcoming campers.

A Place for Everyone

Whether you’re just beginning to ask questions, are growing in your beliefs, or aren’t sure what faith means to you yet, camp is a place where you belong.

Overnight Camp

Leaders in Training (this is in addition to the Overnight Camp list)

Adventure Camp (this is in addition to the Overnight Camp list)

Day Camp

Letters

Campers love to hear from you and receive mail. We offer many options for you to keep in touch. It is also a great idea to send pre-addressed and stamped envelopes for your camper to encourage letters from home. 

Camper Name and Cabin#

 1225 Camp Hanes Rd. King, NC 27021 

Emails 

You can one-way email your camper at camper@ymcanwnc.org. We deliver emails at meal time at our dining hall. It is important to have the camper first and last name in the subject line along with the cabin number. We welcome emails from family and friends for your camper, just be sure to let them know about using the camper’s name and cabin number to help us make sure messages get delivered. Campers are not able to respond to emails. 

Photos 

While your camper is enjoying themselves we take lots of photos to connect you to their experience. There is a link on our website and provided to you on Sunday check in. You will receive a password to our SmugMug page. We do our best to get every camper on the site every day. If you haven’t seen them please know it is probably because they were on a hike and out of our main camp area or we were focused on weather-related safety. 

Social Media 

You can also stay connected by checking our Facebook, Instagram, or YouTube. It is another chance during the week to check in on the awesome events going on and some highlights of the week.

Urgent Matters/Camper Response Needed

If you need a quick response or need to get in contact with your camper directly you can call us at our office number during our normal business hours 8 am -5 pm at 336.983.3131. Outside of business hours you can reach us on our infirmary cell phone at 336.409.2382 Day Camp also carries a cell phone during the day at 336.917.8381 

The first time a participant visits the pool they are asked to take a swim test. Participants may not re-test in the same week but may be able to retest for a higher band in later sessions of the summer.*

The swim test consists of:

1. Jumping into the pool at the 6ft end.
2. Swimming to the shallow end then back to the deep end. Preferably on their stomach with their head near the surface.
3. Pulling themselves out of the pool without the use of a ladder.
4. Jumping back into the deep end of the pool and treading water for 30 seconds with their head above water.

Participants are not forced to take the swim test. If a participant does not feel comfortable taking the swim test and opts not to, they will receive a red band. If the bottom of their chin is 4.5 feet tall, they automatically receive a yellow band; this height is marked by a piece of tape at the pool. Their chin must be above this piece of tape to qualify for a yellow band.

b. Once participants have finished their swim test, their swimming ability is identified by a colored swim-band. These swim-bands are to be worn every time a camper enters the pool and are to be returned at the end of each pool session.

1. A GREEN band is given to those who complete the entire swim test without assistance. They may use the entire area of the pool without a life jacket.
2. A YELLOW band is given to those who are able to complete the swimming portion of the test, but, are unable to pull themselves out of the pool without using the wall. If they cannot tread water for 30 seconds they receive a yellow band. If they choose to go into the deep end of the pool, marked by the lane lines, they must wear a life jacket.
3. A RED band is given to those who are unable to complete the swim test, complete it with assistance, or those the lifeguards on duty feel are not a strong enough swimmer. They may use the entire area of the pool only while wearing a life jacket.

All campers and staff, regardless of swimming level, must wear a life jacket when participating in lake activities, except for the water zip line due to using different equipment.

*If a camper attends multiple session in a summer they are allowed to retake at the beginning of the next session or keep the swim band level that they have already achieved for that summer season.