Tuesday, 13 Jan 09

(S)heJumps into the Canyon (week two)

Comment on this Post It's hard to quantify the excitement and joy of teaching the Boys & Girls Club kids how to ski. When you hear that they are foster kids or have parents in jail, but are able to come out to Alta and enjoy the snow with the help of our local pro/semi-pro/recreational/snow lover coaches, you might be able to see why we are so psyched (S)heJumps into the Canyon is such a success. Last week, Angel joined the group. She is the director of the Salt Lake City Murray branch, and has a huge heart. Although she has worked at Snowbird for the past couple years, she hasn't ever learned how to ski or snowboard. With a little help from Pip Hunt and some tips from me, she was on the chairlift before lunch. Quickly, the 22 year old was going for parallel turns, and said, "I don't care how much I fall today, I'm going to ski until I get this." She was an excellent example to 14-year-old Freeman, who is the most thankful psyched skier we have, and also in my group. He was so proud of Angel, but was so excited to do well himself. When I said, "You graduated to blue runs next week," his smile was ear to ear. He grew up in SLC as a foster kid, and then got adopted at age 8 by his single mother. We appreciate her for allowing him to participate in our program, and reap the benefits of his backyard! More stories coming soon about the kids and their improvement. Until this Saturday (our third camp out of four), enjoy these photos that our friend Re Wikstrom took. If you want to get involved on the 17th or 31st, please email vanessa@shejumps.org.

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