General Volunteer
*General volunteers typically help with fundraisers, events, and activities outside of Gold Star Kid and Father camp weekends.
Apply TO MENTOR
If you are interest in being a mentor at our Gold Star Kids Camps, please click the button below.
Change a future
Volunteer Today and Impact a Life Forever
All applicants must be at least 18 years of age. We will contact you as further information is needed. Thank you! To ensure the safety of our campers, mentors must complete an application and undergo a criminal background screening—including fingerprinting. This screening is free of charge.
A Letter from a Navy Seal Mentor
As a reference point for the below narrative, I served in the SEAL Teams in and around the same time frame as Aaron Vaughn. We went through BUD/s +/- one class of each other. We went through Green Team +/- one class of each other. And we were both fortunate enough to serve our Nation with some of the best warriors in the history of the world. I’m now fortunate enough to have met his family.
My respect for Aaron’s family is not something I can put into words. Their drive to honor Aaron’s ultimate sacrifice, despite their own devastating loss that occurred at the exact same moment, has helped me to rediscover the good in humanity. The fact that this family, took, what has to be, one of the darkest moments possible, the loss of a loved one, and they channeled that grief into the willpower to change others’ lives for good. The Vaughn family chose to ensure that other children, and Aaron’s, who lost loved ones have a chance to be around men and women who deeply honor their parent’s life and legacy. People who understand that freedom isn’t free.
I’ve had the great honor of being a part of multiple camps and I’m moved each time – the selflessness of the mentors, volunteers, and Vaughn family is such a refreshing experience for everyone present. The joy of these kids is such a great thing to see. They are completely free to be themselves, to be around others who understand what they’ve been through, without having to explain anything or feel out of place. THIS IS THEIR PLACE. It’s custom-made for them. In honor of Aaron and every other service member who has sacrificed everything for their country. What I witness at these camps, and in this organization, is a truly good thing and it attracts incredibly awesome human beings. I can say, without a doubt, that if I wasn’t fortunate enough to return home, Camp Valor is absolutely the place I would want my children to be. The mentors are the type of people I would want them to be around.
In closing – the Vaughn’s, every volunteer, every donor, and every mentor that enables Operation 300 to exist are bringing some much-needed light into this world and I personally feel blessed to be a very small piece of it.
Godspeed.
Navy SEAL Chris Frerichs
SEAL TEAM 6 Retired & Op300 Mentor
