Port St. Joe, Florida
WindMark Beach
Sunday, July 19 - Thursday, July 23, 2026
Thank you for signing up to bring hope and Blue Skies to families in Port St Joe!
Are you ready for some fresh air and sunshine? We are too! Please read the information below - everything on this page is here to help you get ready for camp! Explore Hotel Saint Joseph, where all our volunteers. will be staying during camp!
WHAT TO KNOW
where
WindMark Beach, Port St. Joe, Florida (in the Florida panhandle)
Address: 101 Good Morning Street, Port St. Joe, FL 32456
ARRIVAL/DEPARTURE
Volunteer arrival time: TBD.
Port St. Joe is only a couple of miles from CST, so be sure to set your phones to stay on EST!
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 the pre-camp gathering/Zoom and at team training when you arrive!
Volunteer departure time: TBD
COST
Price Per Room: $2800 minimum donation. This covers housing, food, and activities. Most rooms have bedding for up to 4 people. There are no rollaways available at this boutique hotel. If you have more than 4 people serving in your family, please reach out to julie.h@whereskiesareblue.org about pricing.
Application Fee: $50 (non-refundable; covers background check)
Why is there a cost?
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 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!
Fundraising Made Simple
We’ll send you an email with a link to your personal fundraising page and easy instructions to get started. Many volunteers share their page on social media or through email and letters as these are great ways to invite friends and family to join you in making a difference. Plus, it spreads the word about Blue Skies and the hope we bring to families.
Payment Details
Support is due one week before camp. (Check out our cancellation policy for details.)
The Impact of Your Volunteering
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.
Even if you can’t attend, you can still make an impact by sponsoring a volunteer or donating to send a family to camp. Every gift matters. Every act of service changes lives.
Local Volunteers
If you’re a local and live in the community where we host camp, we’d love your help too! You can join us for the week or help out at some of our activities. You’ll need to fill out an application with background check and references. And, we would sure appreciate your support in helping the children with cancer and their families attend at no cost. We can create a fundraising page for you! We ask that everyone who serves for the full camp raise or give $300/individual or $500/family.
schedule
Here’s what a day at camp looks like! You’ll get the full schedule along with theme nights for your week at camp about one month before your camp begins. We have theme nights like Luau, Red/White & Blue Skies, Western Hoedown & more!
your role
Each volunteer will serve on a Family Host Team. You/your family will be paired with a guest family to help them feel welcome and host them throughout camp, befriend them. Volunteers will also be assigned to a service team: Program (setting up Good Morning Blue Skies and Evening Activities); Beach (setting up beach/pool); Hospitality (setting up the welcome table, lullaby cart); or Food (picking up food orders, running buffet line).
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:
Make sure to join the Facebook group here, for more updates and intro’s from other families going to camp!
GET YOUR CAMP T—SHIRT
Stay tuned for information about how to order your shirt for camp!
meals
In the past, we have shopped, cooked, served, and cleaned up meals for our guests and volunteers. To help minimize germs, we are no longer preparing the meals.
Our hope is to have every lunch and dinner taken care of so that you don’t have to worry about groceries or cooking! Plus, it’s more fun when we share meals together! However, until we can make that possible, guests and volunteers may be responsible for a few of their own meals - a couple of lunches and a couple of dinners (and breakfast if you need something more than a donut, bar, or yogurt).
Snacks and bottled water, sodas, and juice boxes are available at the beach and most camp activities.
housing
This year at WindMark, volunteers will stay at a local hotel together.
Just a friendly reminder, each volunteer family will share a hotel room. (That means mom, dad, and all the kiddos are sharing a room together - that might 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 great peace and blessing when we sacrifice for the good and benefit of others for His namesake.
travel
The closest airport to Windmark Beach in Florida is the Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport in Panama City, Florida. The airport is located in the Central Time Zone (camp is on Eastern Time). It takes about an hour to get to the airport. At camp, you will need a car to drive to Rish Park on Cape San Blas, to the Marina for snorkeling, and to the grocery/restaurant for any meals we aren’t able to arrange.
WHAT TO PACK
You won’t need much! Pack casual clothes, bathing suits, flip flops and your toiletries, beach towels, and a beach chair/umbrella if you like. We have some extra chairs and umbrellas, sand toys, games, etc. but if you want to be sure you have one, you may want to bring one with you. Some evenings, we have theme parties that you may want an outfit from home or accessories to add fun to the evening.
Specific theme nights and ideas for accessories will be provided closer to camp dates!
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.
The community is ideal for biking and skating. Feel free to bring bikes, scooters, or skates if you like!
We will provide:
Bed and bath linens (You may want to bring extra towels and pillows. The resort provides 1/pp.) Bedding for your children.
The house has your initial toilet paper, paper towels, laundry detergent, dryer sheets, and dishwashing pods. We also will provide a hospital cart with extra.
Snacks and bottled water, canned soda at the beach and pool
Pack for our theme nights:
Sunday: TBD!
Monday: TBD!
Tuesday: TBD!
Wednesday: Red, White, and BLUE SKIES (All things USA, red, white, blue, American flag, Blue Skies t-shirt)
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!
additional info
Windmark Beach is the ideal place for biking, skating, walking, running, etc. There are boardwalks throughout the community and a path that runs along the water!
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.
snorkeling
One of our favorite activities at camp is snorkeling! Volunteers and our guest families enjoy a day on the bay together hunting for the treasures in the sea. We find starfish, hermit crabs, sand dollars and have fun looking for dolphins as we cross the bay on our adventure! The most fun is spending time together and getting to know one another.