Orange Beach, AL

The Lodge at Gulf State Park
Saturday, September 19 - Wednesday, September 23, 2026

Thank you for signing up to bring hope and Blue Skies to families at Orange Beach! Get ready for your best week ever!

VOLUNTEER INFO ABOUT CAMP

This page is just for you! We will keep it updated with all of the information you need for camp! THANK YOU for serving with us! Camp isn’t camp without YOU!

where

The Lodge at Gulf State Park, A Hilton Hotel

Address: 21196 E Beach Blvd, Gulf Shores, AL 36542

ARRIVAL/DEPARTURE

Volunteer arrival time: 2:00 - 2:30pm CST, Sat., Sept. 19

The Lodge is on central time. If you are running late, please call Bri Wigley, your Site Director @ 251-504-0868.

Volunteers arrive the same day as our guest families. We will have volunteer training, prepare for camp and have an opportunity to get to know one another during orientation at camp (just after check-in).

Volunteer departure time: 10:00am CST, Wed., Sept. 23

Fundraising

THANK YOU! THANK YOU for not only giving of yourselves to serve, but for also giving financial support (or raising support) so that our special guest families can spend a few days away from the chaos of cancer at no cost! Our hope is to serve more and more families - 47 are diagnosed everyday! The best way for us to spread the word is when you share your story of coming to camp. So, please share on social media so that your friends and family can learn about Blue Skies and have the opportunity to give. Fewer people are able/willing to come and serve but more and more are happy to give so that others can serve! If you pay your support rather than share the fundraising link, we hope you’ll share on social media and let people know about Blue Skies!

Every Blue Skies camp costs between $50,000 and $75,000 to make happen. Volunteer support typically funds about 25-50% of what it actually costs to host a retreat. If you know of a church, company, or individual who would be willing to help sponsor part of camp to bring hope, that would help immensely! We want families walking through pediatric cancer to experience camp completely free of charge—a place where they can rest, laugh, and reconnect. Your contribution helps make that possible. We work hard to keep volunteer costs as low as we can, and if you need help, we are here to help! Also, we have a limited number of scholarships available. Just ask! If you are coming by yourself and need help finding a roommate to share the cost, let us know!

When you volunteer, you’re not just helping with meals or activities, you’re giving families a break from cancer. You’re creating space for laughter, rest, and joy during one of the hardest seasons of their lives. Parents get to breathe. Kids get to play. Families get to feel hope again.

SUPPORT IS DUE ONE WEEK BEFORE CAMP. (If you need extra time, please contact us.)

schedule

Here’s a link to your camp schedule:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1QaudvEAp2W-XaRuhVgFkUNPl3K-7Sh0tz7UX6Jliqn4/edit?gid=0#gid=0

meals

Blue Skies will provide your meals. We’ll have breakfast bars, yogurt, bagels available for breakfast; drinks and snacks for the beach; and picnic lunches on site. Dinner our first night will be a cookout at the hotel sponsored by a local church. Our second night dinner will be hosted at Rotolo’s Pizza. It has become a beloved tradition spending the evening at Rotolo’s. They have a big party for us with music, mermaids, pirates, face painting and more! Monday evening is family night and everyone is on their own. We will provide Chick-fil-A meal cards if you would like to use them or feel free to venture out for seafood! Our last night together will be at The Pavilion Park/Art Center. A local is sponsoring BBQ dinner for our Red, White and Blue Skies party!

We encourage everyone to bring a reusable water bottle, it helps us be good stewards!

housing

At our Orange Beach camp location, guests and volunteers will be staying in hotel rooms at the resort. Each family will have a queen/queen hotel room at the resort. (That means mom, dad, and all the kiddos are sharing a room together which may be the greatest challenge and sacrifice at camp but also one of the greatest rewards and fondest memories you'll make as a family). There is peace and blessing when we sacrifice for the good and benefit of others for His namesake.

What to expect

You can expect lots of smiles and excitement! Our staff will be ready to greet you with open arms! When you arrive at The Gulf State Lodge, pull up to the valet area. A member of the Blue Skies staff will greet you and help you get checked in.

The hotel valet staff will take your luggage and then you will park your car in the lot and meet us back at the lobby of the resort. (Blue Skies will provide you with funds for self-parking. You are welcome to valet if you would like. The hotel will bill your credit card for valet as an incidental.)

We will escort you to the desk for your room assignment. The hotel requires to see your driver’s license and also will take a credit card for any incidentals you purchase. Blue Skies will take care of your room, taxes, resort fees and self-parking fee.

We will grab a quick picture of you/your family once you get back to the lobby. Orientation will begin at 2:30pm and our guests arrive at 4pm (CST). We will have a special evening with a cookout and pool party - a fun and relaxing way to start a special few days together!

Our days begin with fun and togetherness at Good Morning Blue Skies and Chapel! When Chapel finishes, parents gather to get to know each other and share their journeys while we play with the kids and have fun! Afternoons are spent together at the beach and pool. Dinner time and evening activities round out our days with our guests. We will gather as a team to thank God for our day together. After watching a glorious sunset, you can climb into your comfy bed for a peaceful night’s sleep.

It's gonna be great! Thank you for serving with us!

We encourage our guest families to participate in all camp activities, but, we want them to take from this week what their family needs and participate in what they choose apart from our welcome dinner and first and last Kindred Journeys sessions. We ask every guest family to attend these and let them know before they arrive at camp.

As part of the volunteer team, throughout the retreat, we will greet our families at activities, eat meals with them, be available to answer questions, and point them in the right direction, so that they can have an amazing week together! We want them to feel welcome and host them throughout camp, befriend them and be available to help where we can.

We hope you will meet and get to know all of the guests (and volunteers). Each of us will also serve at camp by helping to set up/breakdown camp activities. Look for opportunities at camp where you can connect with the guest families. We want every person at camp to feel seen and care about!

GET YOUR CAMP T—SHIRT

We have fun camp t-shirts designed uniquely for the Orange Beach camp. You will receive a text with a link to a google form along with a picture of the shirt to let us know if you would like one and your preferred size. (We get it, not everyone is a t-shirt person OR you may not see yourself wearing this year’s shirt. No worries! Just click on the link to the google form and select, no thank you. It will help us be good stewards to give shirts only to those who would like one:))

what to pack

You won’t need much! Pack casual clothes, bathing suits, flip flops and your toiletries, sunscreen, refillable water bottle, (beach towels , chair/umbrella if you like -there are pool towels and lots of seating and shade around the pool at the hotel).

Remember to bring all of your family's routine medications like Advil, Tylenol, bandaids, etc. along with any prescription medications, sunscreen and swim diapers if you have little ones.

Some evenings, we have theme parties that you may want an outfit from home or accessories to add fun to the evening. It always makes it extra special and more memorable when people show up dressed for the party!

Our theme nights are:

Saturday: Splish Splash Blue Bash (Wear a blue bathing suit if you have one!)

Tuesday: Red, White, and BLUE SKIES Hooray for the red, white and blue!

podcast

Click here to hear Melinda’s heart behind the ministry and the hope Blue Skies brought to the Dryden family as they join Christy Nockels on her podcast!

volunteer manual

Click here to view our volunteer manual with lots of helpful information!

Guest family welcome letter

Click here to read a welcome from Melinda to our guest families to learn more about Blue Skies!

guidelines

Please review our guidelines for volunteering at camp by clicking HERE. We ask all volunteers to abide by these guidelines to ensure we all have an incredible week together!

JOIN THE FACEBOOK GROUP:

Click here to join the Orange beach official Facebook group that will be a great way to get to know one another and hear updates before camp starts!

travel

The nearest airport to Orange Beach is Pensacola (PNS) Airport which is 26 miles away. Other nearby airports include Mobile (MOB) (48.3 miles), Valparaiso (VPS) (63 miles), Gulfport/Biloxi (GPT) (90.3 miles) and Panama City (ECP) (106.5 miles).

Cancellation Policy

If for some reason you are unable to attend once your application has been accepted, you are required to raise/give the full amount of volunteer support due to find another volunteer/volunteer family (approved) to take your spot.