A mountain of support: Flagstaff ski program to provide more lessons for veterans and people with disabilities

Nov. 15--Arizona Snowbowl's Adaptive Ski Program has received multiple grants totaling well over $200,000 that will allow more veterans and people who have intellectual and physical disabilities to enjoy skiing in Flagstaff.

Alex Davenport, executive director for the nonprofit, said the money will help buy more equipment, certify more instructors, install a new facility and create scholarships for people to make it to the slopes. Their scholarships will also focus on getting more veterans on the slopes. Multiple members and agencies in the Flagstaff community came together to support the program's grant applications at no cost to them.

Davenport was talking through a smile as he described how the grant money was helping him accomplish goals for the program he set over seven years ago.

"All of these dreams that I've had so many years ago are coming true," Davenport said. "It's because of the community that's come together."

With the help of the Northern Arizona Healthcare Foundation's grant writers, the program was able to secure $154,000 from the United States Veterans Benefits Administration to allow teaching veterans to ski using their unique instructor training. The foundation offered their help free of charge.

As a veteran of the Marines, Davenport said ensuring his program offers a sense of camaraderie is important to him. The VA grant will allow Davenport to expand their services from one- or two-person lessons to teaching five, maybe even six students at once.

That camaraderie does not come cheap, however. A child who wants to take up skiing can purchase equipment for close to $600. A child with a wheelchair would purchase a mono ski or bi-ski, which can cost over $5,000.

By Davenport's calculations, he believes the program can provide over 400 disabled veterans in Arizona the financial help to take adaptive lessons through their program.

"We basically got all the equipment we're going to need for the next 10 years, at least," Davenport said. "It's state of the art. It's wonderful equipment."

Rick Smith, President and CEO of the Northern Arizona Healthcare Foundation, said the foundation was happy to support the program's mission. He described their grant project as the "perfect partnership."

"We have the expertise. We have the folks that were willing to help, and foundation was certainly willing to help," Smith said. "We came up with several hours of counseling and education, and the results are phenomenal."

Kelly Eckhoff, a grant writer with Kominote Community Consulting, heard about the program through her husband, who saw the program in action on the slopes one day. After hearing more, she wanted to offer her grant writing skills to help.

She helped the program land $25,000 from the Fiesta Bowl Charities grant and $41,750 from the Arizona Community Foundation.

"I'm so excited," Eckhoff said. "I know it will grow their capacity immensely."

The new facility is replacing an old facility of the same size that was deconstructed and taken off the mountain. The new facility did not need to go through U.S. Forest Service approval because it was not larger than what it was replacing, according to J.R. Murray, chief planning officer for Arizona Snowbowl.

Davenport said the facility will be wheelchair accessible and will help instructors gear up their clients away from the noise and crowds of the ski-rental area to help avoid overwhelming clients.

The grants will mark a new milestone for the program, but despite the new funds, the program had already been growing. When the program began in 2011, it offered just 12 lessons; last year, the program provided 748 lessons.

"If you look at those numbers historically through snowfall, all of that growth has been organic," Davenport said. "That growth has happened with down years and up years as far as snowfall."

The program seems to be one of kind in northern Arizona. Davenport said they have not heard of any other like it, although there are other more nationally known programs in states like Colorado.

Davenport wants to make a larger name for his program to ensure that people in Arizona aren't traveling to Colorado for a service they can find locally. Despite their small start, Davenport has achieved the highest adaptive instructor certification, and plans to be able to certify others by the Professional Ski Instructors of America's adaptive instructor standards in the near future.

"People just don't know that we have a program here, and we're providing as good of lessons on a national level," Davenport said.

Because of the program's growth, he finds himself doing more training with instructors than client lessons on the slopes. There are special clients who he considers friends that he will always make time for, he said, but he is happy knowing he's providing this experience for so many other instructors and clients.

"Sometimes you have to really think about it: who's teaching who?" Davenport said. "I didn't have that purpose in my life until I found this and when I found it, this is it. I was put on this earth to do this."

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