02.18.19

Grantee Spotlight: Ignite Adaptive Sports

Grantee Spotlight: Ignite Adaptive Sports

“For students of all abilities and ages – from 5 to 90 years old – our 230 volunteers provided 1,300 lessons to 367 students in 2018. All of our lessons are taught by volunteers…”

Since 1975, Ignite Adaptive Sports – a grantee of Community Foundation Boulder County – has been providing caring, safe, and fun adaptive winter snowsports opportunities for people with disabilities.

 
“The funding we receive from the Community Foundation is significant for us, and helps all our Boulder County residents access snowsports at Eldora Mountain Resort,” says Carol Nickell, Executive Director.
 
“For students of all abilities and ages – from 5 to 90 years old – our 230 volunteers provided 1,300 lessons to 367 students in 2018,” continues Carol, the only full-time staff member of the nationally recognized program. “All of our lessons are taught by volunteers, and we charge for lessons on a sliding scale to give all students access to the outdoors.”
 
For photos of Ignite Adaptive Sports in action, visit our Facebook album!
 
Sometimes charging as little as $5 per lesson, the nonprofit uses student fees in part to keep its equipment current. Funding support also goes toward student scholarships and – most recently – Ignite Adaptive Sports purchased a second van to help bring veterans to the slopes, including wounded active duty and military veterans served through a U.S. Paralympic Military Program Ignite developed in collaboration with the U.S. Olympic Committee.
 
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Ignite’s students have varying disabilities, including autism, cerebral palsy, missing limbs, paralysis, visual impairments, and post-traumatic stress disorder, with many experiencing more than one type of disability.

 
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“We offer alpine and cross-country skiing, snowboarding, ski biking, and snowshoeing opportunities,” adds Carol. “And we retain 68% of our volunteers every year. Ignite wouldn’t exist without our volunteers.”

 
Indeed, Ignite’s dedicated team donates between 15-20K hours (worth more than $350K according to The Independent Sector) of their time and energy each year to provide private snow sport lessons to Coloradans living with disabilities. While other adaptive winter sport programs exist in our state, Ignite is the only comprehensive program located along the Front Range … and the only program accessible by RTD’s public transportation system.
 
Full and half-day snow-sport lessons run from January through March, and are held Thursdays through Sundays.
 
Testimonial
“Today my daughter, Chloe, had her very first ski experience and lesson. She watches her Daddy and brothers go skiing often, but we were always hesitant to put her into lessons knowing a group setting with instructors who don’t understand her SPD [Sensory Processing Disorder] would make it hard to have a good experience for her. 
 
“My husband found your program and we signed her up for a lesson. It was AMAZING and she had a blast. Her instructors were absolutely the BEST! Thank you all for making Chloe’s first skiing experience such a great one!!!”
~Anna Hegwer