Wintergreen Adaptive Sports (WAS), which offers educational programs that encourage individuals with disabilities to learn to ski and snowboard, will kick off the winter season at Wintergreen Resort on Monday (Dec. 19) with the opening of its Adaptive Snow Sports School.
The school will operate seven days a week, offering half-day and full-day lessons in skiing and snowboarding for children, teenagers and adults with any type of disability.
WAS, a non-profit organization founded in 1996, provides standard and adaptive equipment, as well as trained volunteer instructors, both adult and teenaged. Skiing offers disabled individuals profound therapeutic benefits, including increased physical vitality and stamina, as well as important improvements in overall mental and emotional health.
Here is a look at other upcoming WAS events for the remainder of this year and into 2012:
Tuesday, Dec. 27; Monday, Jan. 16; and Saturday, Feb. 11 | Executive Director?s Open House: From 10 to 11 a.m. on each of the three days, members of the community are invited to visit the WAS snow sports school building to take a closer look at what the organization offers and how it operates.
Friday, Jan. 20-Sunday, Jan. 22 | The 8th Annual Wounded Warrior Weekend at Wintergreen Resort. Approximately 75 wounded warriors, spouses, children, and caregivers will enjoy a complementary weekend of snow sports instruction and fun. In 2004, WAS became one of the first adaptive snow sports programs to offer a wounded warrior sport project.
March 3 | Mardi Gras Celebration on Snow. Participants are invited to come in costume, join the on-snow parade, and enjoy a fun synchronized skiing competition.
In a recent key organizational development, WAS ? which relies on individual donations, grants and business sponsorships for nearly all of its funding ? announced that a fundraising effort earlier this year brought in more than $ 30,000, with the Donovan Foundation contributing $ 10,000 as part of a matching donation incentive.
For more information on Wintergreen Adaptive Sports, visit http://www.skiwas.org or call (434) 325-2007.
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About Wintergreen Adaptive Sports (WAS): The mission of Wintergreen Adaptive Skiing is to establish, operate, and maintain educational programs that encourage children, teenagers, and adults with disabilities to learn to ski. The program provides standard and adaptive equipment, as well as trained volunteer instructors, both adult and teenaged. Skiing offers disabled individuals profound therapeutic benefits, including increased physical vitality and stamina, as well as important improvements in overall mental and emotional health. Over the organization?s 16-year history, WAS has given thousands of ski and snowboard lessons, and more than 100 volunteer instructors work with the program each year. With its staff of volunteer instructors, many of them professionals in medical and rehabilitative fields, WAS anticipates providing more than 500 all-day private ski lessons this season. Lessons are offered at an affordable price with many scholarships available; no one is turned away due to an inability to pay. The region served by WAS includes the entire mid-Atlantic area of the United States. WAS also serves students from the metropolitan areas of Washington, D.C., Richmond, Va., Raleigh-Durham, N.C., and many of the smaller cities and rural communities within 150 miles of Wintergreen Ski Resort in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. Though independent from Wintergreen Resort itself, WAS operates with the full support of Wintergreen?s management and community. More information: http://www.skiwas.org, or (434) 325-2007.
About Wintergreen Resort: Wintergreen Resort is an 11,000-acre, four-season resort located in the Blue Ridge Mountains southwest of Charlottesville. This beautiful hideaway is the ultimate vacation and conference spot, nearly 300 condominium-style accommodations; 45 holes of championship golf; snow skiing, snowboarding and snow tubing; an award-winning tennis program; a full-service, destination spa; 40,000 square feet of meeting and event space; and savory dining options. The resort is located adjacent to the Blue Ridge Parkway in beautiful central Virginia near Charlottesville, just 90 minutes from Richmond, Va., three hours from Washington, D.C. and Raleigh, N.C., five and a half hours from Philadelphia, and eight hours from Atlanta. For more information, guests can call (434) 325-2200 or visit the resort?s web site at http://www.wintergreenresort.com.
