Be our guest!

• Blue Skies is intended for families who have a child currently undergoing curative or palliative treatment for pediatric cancer (or who has been off of treatment for a couple of months) at the time of the requested camp. Medical professionals can refer families to our program or families can apply directly.

• Camp is intended for the patient’s immediate family members who live at home with the patient. However, single parents may bring another adult family member with them to camp who will share their room. Except in special circumstances, we limit the number of adults to two.

• All families who have a child currently undergoing curative or palliative treatment for pediatric cancer AND receive medical clearance and a referral from their child’s pediatric oncology health care team are welcome to apply.

• Children should be in stable health, feeling up to participating. While there is a nurse present at each camp, families provide all physical care including medications and treatments for their child while at Blue Skies.

• Families must be able to provide their own transportation to and from camp.

• Families are asked to respect and abide by the guidelines of Blue Skies and sign waivers/consent forms as part of signing up to attend a camp.

• Because of the limited number of spots available, we give priority to families who are not attending other beach camp in the same calendar year.

Once a family has been served at a Blue Skies retreat, we encourage them to come back as volunteers, to “pay it forward” and make it possible for other families to experience this unique and special vacation. However, if families find the dark clouds of childhood cancer still hovering and aren’t quite ready to serve, they are welcome to apply again.

When a child has relapsed, had progression of disease or other setbacks, we encourage families to apply as a guest again.

Applications are selected by a Review Committee that consists of members of pediatric oncology healthcare teams such as nurses, PNPs/PAs, social workers, child life, chaplains, oncologists and Blue Skies’ staff. Parents of children with cancer also sit on the Review Committee. Prior experience at Blue Skies and similar programs are taken into consideration during the review process.

We believe that it is important for the entire family to experience Blue Skies together, so we give priority to families whose entire family can attend the entire camp.

We ask our guests to make every effort to arrive during the specified arrival time unless they have an emergency.

To help everyone get to know each other, guests are kindly asked to participate in orientation at camp along with the first and last parent group (Kindred Journeys). Apart from these activities, guests may participate in whatever activities they choose.

If for any reason a family needs to cancel, we ask that they make every effort to let us know as soon as possible so that another family is able to attend.

Decisions to be away from home, off work, away from treatment, etc. are not quick decisions. However, if we are not notified of a cancellation until close to the camp date, there may not be enough time to fill the spot. The retreats are made possible through donations by volunteers, individuals in the community, along with businesses and churches. We raise $75,000 to host each camp and we are glad to do it! The funding we raise covers the rental of the facility, food, activities, supplies and everything needed to bring families a week of hope, joy and laughter!. (So, more than $5,000 is raised for each guest family who attends.) We don’t want any family to miss out on a chance to attend. That being said, we recognize living through childhood cancer is challenging and that schedules can change without control. We share this to encourage families to make every effort to attend camp once they have been accepted. Thank you!