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FWSA Community Service

FWSA Council and Club Members Are Helping People

By Sigrid Noack, Charities & Our Community Chairperson, FWSA 

 

The Far West Ski Association and its eleven participating Ski Councils are committed to supporting charitable giving and volunteerism. Through donations and volunteer services of our individual members in clubs and councils, we hope to enhance the quality of life within our communities. All of our FWSA councils, clubs, and their members have been continuing their volunteer efforts and charity givings in many very impressive ways. For a summary of organizations to which Far West members have volunteered time and/or money - [Click Here].

 

FWSA Charity & Community Service Recognition

 

At this year’s FWSA Convention, Skiyente Ski Club in the Northwest Ski Club Council was again the grand winner of the annual “FWSA Charity & Community Service Recognition”. What a tough competition it was again this year! The other three finalists were Altair Ski Club and Bend Ski Club, both also in the NWSCC, and Fire & Ice Ski & Social Club in BAC.   These clubs displayed very impressive picture boards, showing their involvement with charitable community activities.   Industry representatives and ski club delegates  ex­pressed their amazement at the variety and the extent of volun­teerism and charity support within our FWSA family. A great big THANK YOU and CONGRATULATIONS to all of these wonderful FWSA Ski Clubs!

 

This annual FWSA Ski Club and Council Recogni­tion Award is a FWSA $100 check, which is donated to the winning club or council’s favorite charity.  Skiyente was the first club to win this special recognition in 2007, later winners were Arizona Ski Council and Monterey Ski Club of BAC.  This is quite an honor for these ski clubs, since there are more than 150 ski clubs within the FWSA family.

 

Skiyente Ski Club has only  about 75 members and is an all-women’s group.  The ladies focus mainly on supporting local women related issues and on their mountain community.  They seem to be into charity work and community support as much as they are into skiing!  What a wonderful group of generous and selfless ladies!  Their dearest and longest supported charity is their own club’s Erin Nicole scholarship, which honors one of their member’s daughter who was lost to SIDS.  The scholarship is presented every year to a local up-and-coming female junior racer.  But Skiyente Ski Club supports many other causes, such as the  Oregon Cancer Ski Out, the Mt. Hood Cultural Museum, the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure for Breast Cancer, the Mt. Hood Ski Patrol, US Women’s Ski Jumping, Shepherd’s Door – a Women’s & Children’s Shelter, the Medical Team International for Haitian Relief, and twice a year they do a Highway Clean-Up. 

 

Congratulations Skiyente Ski Club!  And keep up the wonderful charity work!

 

2010: Photo Display Boards from Altair Ski Club, Bend Ski Club, and Skiyente Ski Club.
2010: Skiyente Ladies, Diane Hicks, Julie Rasmussen, and Sheri Parshall accepting the winning $100 FWSA check from Sigrid Noack.
2010: Becki Robinson of Altair Ski Club proudly displays her beautiful 3-D Display Board.

 

Most of our FWSA councils and member ski clubs are very active with community projects and charitable organizations. With our FWSA Charity award, and our new Community Service Awareness Program, we are encouraging even more community service and charitable involvement.  My goal is to have 100%  of all FWSA ski clubs to be involved with at least one charity by our next FWSA convention. June 2011.  Please check the FWSA Community Service site for updated information at http://www.fwsa.org.

 

FWSA is headed for 100% Community & Charity involvement!

Contact Sigrid, at skisig@earthlink.net for more information. For complete details and and application form for the “FWSA Charity & Community Service Recognition” - [Click Here].

Programs

Three of the many programs supported by FWSA have been the most significant recipients of our charitable activities. To learn more about each program and how you or your club can get involved click on the link on each program heading.

Disabled Sports USA

Many of our FWSA councils and clubs support chapters of Disabled Sports/USA.  With the motto “If I Can Do This, I Can Do Anything”, three Veterans from three different wars climbed Mount Kilimanjaro this summer.  Imagine this, between the three of them, they had only one human leg. Check it out at http://dsusa.org/challenge.html.  For chapter information visit the Disabled Sports, USA website at www.dsusa.org.

Special Olympics

 

Many of the FWSA clubs and councils support Special Olympics. Find a group in your area to help out as a coach or volunteer, or to send donations, go to their website at www.specialolympics.org.  This summer Special Olympics hosted a Plane-Pull at Long Beach airport, which raised funds and was a wonderful activity for all participants, including me!

 

CAN DO MS / The Heuga Center for MS

Another favorite charity is the Jimmie Heuga Center in Colorado, which was recently renamed the CAN DO Multiple Sclerosis Center. The center is "Dedicated to Improving the Lives of People with Multiple Sclerosis and Their Families", and they believe in “Promoting Health and Creating Hope”.  Sadly, the founder, Jimmie Heuga, passed away on February 8th, 2010.  Jimmie was a dear friend to all of us at FWSA. Check out the website at http://www.mscando.org/.


History of the “FWSA Charity & Community Service Recognition”

 

In 2009, at the FWSA Convention in Reno, the Monterey Ski & Social Club in the Bay Area Council was the grand winner of the third annual “FWSA Charity & Community Service Recognition”. The two runner-up finalist groups were Century City Ski Club in LAC and Bogus Basin Ski Club in Intermountain Ski Council. SchneeVogeli Ski Club and Bergfreunde Ski Club in NWSCC are also very much involved in Charity & Community Service and took the time to apply for this Recognition. Monterey Ski & Social Club’s favorite event every year is the Salvation Army’s “Create a Needy Family’s Christmas”. What wonderful work this club has been doing. Congratulations Monterey Ski & Social Club!

 

In 2008, at the FWSA Convention, Arizona Ski Council was recognized with the “FWSA Charity & Community Service Recognition”.  The runner-up clubs, who also displayed picture boards at the convention were Reno Ski & Recreation of Sierra Council and Auslich Ski Club of LAC & OC.  Other outstanding clubs who also participated were Monterey Ski & Social Club of BAC and Single Ski Club of LAC.  Congratulations Arizona Ski Council!

 

In 2007, Skiyente Ski Club of NWSCC was the first club to win the “FWSA Charity & Community Service Recognition”.  The other winning groups were BAC and Phoenix Ski Council, Beach Cities Ski Club, Century City Ski Club, Edelweiss Ski Club, and Grindelwald Ski Club, all of LAC, Don Diego Ski Club and Pac Rim Alliance of SDC, and Bergfreunde Ski Club of NWSCC.

 

2009 Bogus Basin Ski Club Representatives with their Community Service Photo Dispays  2009 Century City Ski Club Representatives with their Community Service Display
 
Julie Ashton Representing the 2009 Grand Winner Monterey Ski & Social Club with Sigrid Noack at FWSA Convention

VOLUNTEERISM TAKEN TO NEW HEIGHTS
A new dimension of charitable donation has been added in the FWSA in 2003. In the Arizona Ski Council and Northwest Ski Club Council, part of liver and a kidney were generously shared between council members. This is certainly the most rewarding kind of donation possible. Here are their

 

My sister Pam was being evaluated to donate one of her kidneys to me. Lucky me, she was a match! The surgery date was set. Just getting a date made me feel better. I had full faith the surgery would be successful. My sister and I checked into the hospital together at 5:00am on Tuesday, September 16th, and we were in adjoining surgery suites by 7:45 am. The kidney worked immediately upon placement and we were together in a room by 5:30 pm with our pain-med pumps in hand.

  

Our recovery went well and being with my sister who had just unselfishly given me one of her organs was the best encouragement I could have. My husband Ron Onslow was a Prince Charming. He doted on both of us daily and spent every minute possible with us. And the support from friends, family and my long distance friends from the FWSA helped immensely with our recuperation. 

 

Our recovery has been like a textbook. I started swimming and golfing six weeks post-op and got back to skiing in January. Although the new kidney is expected to last only 11-15 years, I will be better prepared in the event I need to go through this again in the future.  

 

There are really no words to thank someone, who so selflessly donates an organ to another human being.

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Ben and Angela

 

A Selfless Gift

by Elaine Cobos of Arizona Ski Council

 

Chris Klug isn’t the only snowboarder with a new liver these days. While Angela Davis Brewer, of Arizona Ski Council, probably won’t be winning any Olympic medals, she is a true fighter and winner. Her story is one that will warm your heart. Ben Velasquez, and his wife, Elaine Cobos, Arizona Ski Council President met Angela and Michael Brewer through friends at work and found out they all had a love and passion for skiing. Sadly, in early 2003, Angela delivered a stillborn baby just two weeks before her due date. Doctors investigated and noticed nodules on her liver. "I was fighting hepatitis C my entire life and never knew it," Angela said. She had contracted the disease from a blood transfusion shortly after birth. Most hepatitis C patients don’t know they have the disease until many years later.

 

Angela’s health declined rapidly, and by June she had jaundice. She was put on a liver transplant list, but that could have meant years of waiting while her health continued to decline. The couple put out the word to their community at large. In a selfless act of compassion and concern, Ben offered to be a living transplant donor. Amazingly, the liver, much like skin, will regenerate and fully function after the donor recovers. Living organ donation is near to Ben's heart. Several years before, he had wanted to donate his kidney to his first wife, who was diabetic. Unfortunately, their organs were not compatible. She eventually died from diabetes-related complications.

 

Fortunately, Ben turned was a good match for Angela. He met all the criteria: Younger than 55, in good health, and he felt a bond with Angela. Ben donated 60 percent of his liver for transplant on Sept. 29, 2003. Both donor and recipient recuperated just fine and were back on the slopes the next ski season. Angela will require treatment for hepatitis C, which is incurable, for the rest of her life. Angela and her husband are moving on and looking forward to trying to conceive another baby. As they leave the pain of the past year behind them, they take with them the love of a man who offered a precious and priceless gift of life. “Ben is a hero in the true sense; he's a person who put himself in harm’s way for another human being and in keeping with his humble nature, didn't want any special recognition," Michael says.

 

Ben asks only one favor of Angela — that she live a long and healthy life.

 

To register with the Arizona donor registry, visit www.dnaz.org

 

In California, It takes four easy steps to become a donor.

 

Request a donor card. Visit your local DMV office to receive one.

 

Sign and carry your donor card in your purse or wallet so it can be found.

 

Put a pink Life dot on your California driver's license.

 

Tell your family you’d like to be an organ & tissue donor when you die.

 

 

Signing a donor card signifies your commitment to renewing the life and health of others in need. Telling your family is the way to become a donor. It is much easier for families to make a decision to donate before they face a crisis. In the event of your death, your family will be asked what your wishes are. If organ or tissue donation is a possibility they must give the final consent to donate.

 

For more information in California, visit http://www.lifesharing.org/index.html

 

Outside of California and Arizona, those interested in registering for a donor program can visit http://www.organdonor.org/ - [Click Here].