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Support Deer Park
Donations are our main source of support, so every offering is greatly appreciated. Your contribution helps us to keep the monastery open to receive guests throughout the year.
DonateThe Happy Farm project began in early 2025 and we invite you to join us in bringing this vision to life! Please read the links below for more information. We are currently looking for long-term team members and volunteers (see the six-month volunteer program for an idea about volunteering). If you are interested, or have other inquiries, please contact us. On the contact form, choose "Happy Farm Inquiries" in the drop down menu under Reason for Contact to email the Happy Farm team.
Please check back for more info about opportunities to volunteer during our Special Retreats taking place in 2026 as the time draws nearer.
Before, during, and after a special retreat, we need additional help, so we are inviting mindfulness practitioners who have already attended a 7-day retreat (or longer) at Deer Park Monastery to apply for the volunteer program. We ask that the 7-day retreat be completed at least one month prior to your application to volunteer.
We ask that applicants apply a minimum of one month prior to the volunteer program. Additionally, it is preferable if applicants have officially received a transmission of the Five Mindfulness Trainings.
For the Wake Up Retreat, we ask that volunteers are young adults between the ages of 18 and 35 years old. For the Family Retreat, we ask that volunteers are not the sole parent or guardian responsible for a child or teen attending the retreat. For the Teen Camp, we ask that volunteers are not parents, stepparents, or guardians of a teen attending camp.
During this period of time, you are asked to set aside other responsibilities to be fully present for the program. There is no partial volunteer period and/or coming and going from the monastery during your designated program dates. Applicants pay a minimum $25 non-refundable application fee (unless your application is declined). There is also an option to contribute more financially to support the retreat.
Please be aware that many of the tasks that volunteers help us with involve physical work. Serving as a volunteer is often a rewarding and fulfilling experience, working together in joy and community. Here are some of the qualities we are looking for in volunteers:
In addition, we are looking for people with first aid experience or a medical background. Please mention any such background that you have in your application with the understanding that experience in this field is not a requirement to serve as a volunteer.
All volunteers are asked to follow the retreat schedule and/or their work assignment schedule. The day typically begins at 5:00 AM and ends at 9:30 PM with a rest period during each day.
Volunteers may be asked to coordinate and lead family groups in their assigned work. Examples of work assignments include kitchen duties, pot-washing, dining hall cleaning, meditation hall set-up, restroom responsibilities, and compost, trash and recycling. There will be regular meetings with monastic leaders to learn from each other and nourish harmony within the retreat.
Volunteer at
Deer Park
Thank you for your aspiration to help bring joy and peace to many people at the monastery
Apply as a Retreat VolunteerFrom time to time we offer multi-week courses related to mindfulness, the teachings and life of Thich Nhat Hanh, and a variety of similar subjects. Please see our schedule of upcoming courses.
Take the Deer Park Monastery and Plum Village community with you wherever you go. The Plum Village app is designed to cultivate mindfulness, compassion, and joy through guided meditations, deep relaxations, practice poems, bells of mindfulness, and other practices — all through a mobile device.
