Interested in serving with us?
LVSA is a non-profit organization. In order to keep costs down for our students none of us are paid, but we are very fortunate to be led by a high calibre group of volunteers who love God and care about young people. We are limited during the school sessions in the number of staff we can welcome due to our number of bedrooms, so our greatest needs during session are for teachers, deans, and cooks. At this point we are mostly using folks we know and who are able to come for most of the term for the sake of relationship and community. When possible, we try to help with travel costs for volunteers staying for the whole term, but our funds are limited. As we grow we hope to widen the number of people we include, and if staff are able to cover their own transportation costs, we are more able to welcome them to the team.
Interested in Bringing a Team to help?
We have an incredible amount of work in front of us, restoring the chateau, and keeping up with its maintenance, and we would very much welcome groups from North America who have a heart to serve and hopefully some skills to offer. Clearly folks with knowledge of the trades would be of greatest value, but there will be work for all. Groups of 12-20 would probably be most ideal given the size of our facility. Group members could stay in the Chateau and eat meals together while doing projects. We would be glad to customize the work list, and schedule around your preferences.
Since we’re tent-making and don’t have external financial support, we would need teams to cover their own expense. But we would be committed to keeping the trip affordable. Here is an initial estimate of what a 7-10 day trip would cost per person:
$500-1,000 Flights to CDG
$15 per day for van rentals, gas, tolls,
$10-15 a day for groceries while in the chateau
$25 per day for Utilities and Chateau costs while in the chateau
$75 per day in Paris or on the road (Hotels, meals)
$0-? Support for project costs would also be hugely helpful (e.g. paint, brushes, supplies, tools)
Our guess is that a 10 day trip could be done for as little as $1,200 per person if you were extremely careful (and got good ticket prices), but more likely $1,500 or so. The biggest price variable will be the airline ticket.
Please feel free to contact Rob and Leslie to talk about bringing your team to France. For the first few years we’ll probably gravitate to working with folks we already know for simplicity. But we will work hard to make sure the experience was a win/win. in 2021 we are open to having teams come in July and August.
Interested in helping by yourself or with friends?
We also hope to open up a couple weeks in the summer to welcome any individual, friend group, family, or other small group that wants to come stay with us and help restoring the chateau. We’ll eat our meals in great rooms, tour the area a little bit, and live in a castle the whole time while we bring this beautiful old building and grounds back to life Since we don’t have external support, we will need folks to cover their expenses. We estimate that to be around $300-500 per person for the week depending on your needs for lodging, food, and transportation. (Participants would be very welcome to rent their own vehicle. It’s affordable and convenient, and will lower your cost, if there are 2 or more in your group).
If you have a few friends interested in this, contact us and we can set a week.
Support the vision!
Maybe you can’t fly out to France, but you have other gifts that you can share. Maybe you have amazing discipline for prayer. We’ll need it! Or perhaps you can donate towards those items we need to keep things going. Like beds and linens, classroom furniture, Kitchen needs, or a 9 passenger van. we would definitely be grateful for that! Thanks:)
We’re officially an IRS approved 501c3 non profit charity and we can receipt donations made in America. We also have some capacity to receive donations in Canada. Check out our ‘Ways to Give’ tab for more info.
