Company description

CooperRiis is a therapeutic healing community set on a beautiful 90-acre farm campus in western North Carolina where we work together to provide a comprehensive program that addresses mind, body, spirit and heart.

Our healing mission is to enable individuals, whose lives are impeded by a mental health challenge or emotional distress, to develop their capabilities for creativity, wholeness, relationship and optimal health, so that they can achieve their highest levels of fulfillment and functioning and respond productively to their future challenges and opportunities for growth.

Internship description

Commitment and Details:

• The Farm Support Volunteer position involves a 40-hour work week for an initial 6-month commitment, with the possibility of extending that commitment for longer (which many of our volunteers and interns choose to do).
• This position comes with room-and-board, including a great meal plan. Currently our full-time volunteers will receive a stipend of $250 per month with room-and-board.
• These volunteer stipends are not viewed as payment or compensation for your work, but as minimal support so that you can meet basic needs in order to continue functioning as a full-time volunteer.

Compensation:

This position is UNPAID, with stipend and room/board.

How to apply:

Email HR@cooperriis.org

Job Description

• CooperRiis is above all a therapeutic community, and this Farm Support Volunteer position is designed as a working role, where your primary responsibilities will be to accomplish the farming and animal-care tasks assigned to you and the residents on the crew each day.
• The person filling this role will be a direct support to the residents who are in our program for healing. Every individual who comes into our community invariably becomes a part of everyone else’s experience of being here, and so the person filling this role will have plenty of opportunity to build relationships with all members of the community. In fact, when you are not working and especially at mealtimes, participating in the social and community aspects of CooperRiis is encouraged for all of us.
• This is a unique opportunity to participate and live in a therapeutic farm community. We are looking for a kind and hard-working individual eager to help and who appreciates the process of growing food and working directly with our residents.
• General daily responsibilities for this position include helping with the animal chores; lots of planting, harvesting, pest/weed control; greenhouse management; hoop house and low field tunnels; mushroom cultivation; and working with several types of composting, including worms.
• Also, there is a constant effort to keep the place neat and to care for the space and tools, the animals and plants, and each other.

Helpful Skills to Have:

• Communication, curiosity and patience are key skills.
• It does help to have some background with working on a farm or something related. Some knowledge of working with light equipment like tillers and weedeaters, basic hand tools, or larger equipment like tractors is preferred, but is not necessary.
• Being able to work outside for the majority of the day is important. The work load is medium to heavy at times. Being mindful and proactive for the different seasons is a core expectation.
• We are located in the foothills of NC, in the Upper Piedmont area, about an hour from both Greenville, SC and Asheville, NC. This is a rural country setting, and so it is recommended (but not required) that applicants have their own transportation available. Having a valid driver’s license for this position is also very helpful, but not absolutely required.

About the farm:

We grow year-round and as many things as we can. The actual working farm is comprised of about 10 acres within a 90-acre campus. Three of those 10 acres are used for vegetable production with greenhouses, hoop houses and lots of raised beds. The rest is pasture for the animals. We have goats, alpacas, a llama, ponies, sheep, chickens, bunnies, cats and dogs. We also grow lots of flowers. We grow mostly for our community meals, although we do provide some food to a local CSA and occasionally a restaurant or local B&B.

One of the major goals of the farm is to create and maintain an atmosphere where farming is interesting, organized and approachable by general audiences. Keeping the environment safe physically and emotionally is very important. A lot of the people we work with have never worked in a garden before and we want to leave a good impression.

Compensation

this position is: room & board

Work visa

This employer is willing to sponsor a work visa for international applicants

Application instructions

Deadline

no deadline