San Diego, CA

The Oaks Retreat Center
Friday, September 26 - Sunday, September 28, 2025

California, here we come!

Join us for a weekend mountain getaway at The Oaks as Blue Skies heads west! Nestled on 240 acres in the Ballena Valley and located only an hour outside of San Diego and two hours from Los Angeles, The Oaks is a retreat center to help promote rest and renewal and focuses on community and connections.

beautiful views

Enjoy the modern accommodations, hiking trails, tennis courts, a three story water slide and pool, and the amazing gathering spaces that overlook the mountain vistas. There are also 40 ROCKING CHAIRS - Where you sleep is important, but where you rock is even more! Most of their guests say they would sleep in their oversized, outdoor rocking chairs if they could!

WHAT TO KNOW

where

The Oaks, A Southern California Retreat Center in the Ballena Valley

Address: 27224 HWY 78 Ramona, CA 92065

ARRIVAL/DEPARTURE

Volunteer arrival time: 2pm-2:30pm PST, Orientation at 2:30pm (We would like to start orientation closer to 2pm if possible.)

Volunteer departure time: 10:30am PST (Please bring your bags/luggage with you to breakfast.)

COST

Adult volunteers: TBD

(There is a non-refundable application fee of $50/application to cover the cost of the background check.)

Students: TBD

Support is due one week before camp.

Your support helps make it possible for our guest families to come to camp at no cost. Our goal is to bring down the cost of camp for volunteers. Costs continue to rise, but we are doing all we can to hold and hopefully decrease the volunteer expense. If you need help with funding, don't hesitate to contact us. We also have a limited number of partial scholarships available.

We ask volunteers to use the Blue Skies online personalized giving campaign (Givebutter). Our staff will send you super quick and easy instructions for you to create your personal page. When volunteers self-fund their trip, we ask that they reach out to their friends and family through social media, calls, letters, etc. allowing others to know about their trip to Blue Skies so they can pray, learn about Blue Skies, and have the opportunity to give directly to send a child with cancer and their family to camp. So many people are unable to serve at camp yet want to help and are glad to support others who can serve in their place!

schedule

Here’s our projected schedule:

FRIDAY

  • 2:30pm Volunteer Orientation

  • 4pm-5pm Guest Checkin

  • 5pm Camp WELCOME!

  • 6pm Dinner

  • 7pm LOL Show

  • 8pm S’mores around the campfire!

  • 9pm Volunteer Gathering

sATURDAY

  • 7:30am Breakfast Prep

  • 8:30am Breakfast

  • 9:30am Good Morning Blue Skies (7pm LOL Show

  • 10:00am Kindred Journeys (Parent Group)/Soaring (Kid’s Activities)

  • Noon Lunch

  • 1pm - 5pm Swimming; Tennis; Pickleball; Games; Crafts

  • 5:30pm BBQ

  • 6:30pm Sunset Hayride

  • 8pm S’mores around the campfire!

  • 9pm Volunteer Gathering

sUNDAY

  • 7am Breakfast Prep

  • 8am Parent breakfast

  • 9am Good Morning Blue Skies

  • 10am Benediction

your role

Get ready for a weekend packed with fun mixed with relaxation combined with meeting so many new friends! We will have worship and teachings and enjoy the great outdoors. We’ll spend time connecting with our team and the families we are serving to share with one another the hope and joy Jesus brings.

meals

All meals will be provided at camp! We will have light, continental breakfast; sandwiches/salads for lunch. Pizza on Friday night and BBQ on Saturday night. We will also have snacks/drinks throughout the day and s’mores ‘round the campfire before bed.

housing

Volunteers and guests will stay in varied lodging on the property from bunkhouses to cottages. Your room assignments will be given at check-in. The property was once a student camp and they have transformed it into a beautiful adult retreat center. Only the guest families will have their own bathrooms. All other rooming shares a bathroom with at least one other person/family. The bunk rooms share bathrooms (men/women).

travel

San Diego International Airport is about an hour from The Oaks. Please let us know your travel plans. If you are flying in, Lyft and Uber are not readily available to get from The Oaks back to the airport. We are happy to try to help with transportation if possible.

what to pack

You won’t need much! Pack casual clothes, including a sweatshirt in case it’s cool in the evening, bathing suits, flip-flops, shoes to hike in, and your toiletries. Remember to bring all of your family's routine medications like Advil, Tylenol, bandaids, etc. along with any prescription medications, medical supplies, equipment and swim diapers if you have little ones. We are having a western night and hayride on Saturday! You may want to throw in a bandana, jeans, and boots!

We will provide:

  • Bedding and linens (by the resort)

  • Snacks and bottled water, canned soda

  • Games, arts & crafts

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!

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!

2025 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!

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.