“We don’t think you can call it a game unless everyone gets a chance to play.” This quote comes from the mission statement of a non-profit organization called Chill, founded by Jake Burton Carpenter, president and founder of Burton Snowboards. Burton wanted to provide an opportunity to kids less fortunate and thought that snowboarding’s thrill factor would appeal to city-kids. The hope is that once the kids become snowboarders, they’ll have an incentive to stay on-track (or get on-track) so that they can become contributing adults who can support hobbies like snowboarding.
Since 1995, Chill has placed more than 1,800 kids on the snow. Currently, the program is available in Seattle with Steven’s Pass as host; Boston with Wachusett as host; New York with Sterling Forest as host; and Burlington, Vt., with Bolton Valley as host.
Chill operates through agencies that work with at-risk and under-privileged kids and the agencies select the kids based on need and/or their lack of interest or success in other areas of life. “There has not yet been an occasion when a participant has had to be permanently removed from the program,” says Jennifer Davis, Chill director. “Because they are so excited about the opportunity, a warning gives them the message to shape-up.” The theory seems to have worked with a 95 percent retention rate for each session.
The kids ride once a week for seven consecutive weeks, depending on weather. It is this continuity and length of the program that makes success stories out of the most unlikely candidates.
Depending on the site, Chill runs four weeknights (Monday to Thursday, for example) for the seven-week period. Each Monday the same group of 40 to 45 kids rides, each Tuesday a different group of 40 to 45 kids rides, etc., for a total of about 160 kids at each site each season.
As for supervisors, the agencies provide the proper ratio of adult chaperones for the kids and Chill asks that it be the same adults every week. After that, Chill provides the kids with everything else, including clothing, equipment, lift tickets, transportation and instruction. Chill also employs a coordinator and an assistant coordinator at each site.
Because it is an after-school program, Chill asks the host mountain to provide lights, reduced-rate lift tickets and reduced-rate instruction. The ideal number of instructors peaks at five to six for the first two weeks of the program, then drops to three to four instructors for weeks three and four, then as needed for the final three weeks.
The equipment Burton Snowboards has come up with is a learn-to-ride product designed for first-time riders. The idea is to give first-timers a more positive experience so they learn faster and keep returning to the slopes. The product line, called LTR, is designed with a generous sidecut, a soft flex profile and three-degree edge bevel, which all contribute to an easier (and less destructive to the body) learning process. Burton also has an LTR II series for those who graduate onto the hill. The host mountain can use the product during the day and on weekends, making it available to the Chill participants during the weeknights of the seven-week program.
Because the average cost to run a site is approximately $35,000 for each session (this includes salaries for the coordinators, product, lift tickets, instruction and the transportation—the most expensive part of the program), Chill counts on outside funding from various sources. This year, several sponsors are still pending and one is confirmed to date. Past sponsors include AT&T, Mountain Dew and UPS.
Funding is always a problem for Chill because of the “deep pocket” perception of being connected to Burton. But Chill is a separate, non-profit program and though Burton continues to support the organization financially, in order for Chill to expand into more cities and provide the opportunity to even more kids, alternative sources of funding must be found.
For the host areas, the cost to the mountain is minimal because Chill is a 501(c)3 and contributions are tax-deductible. In addition, host areas receive logo placements in the Chill brochure that is received by potential corporate donors, potential individual donors, agencies that apply to the program, foundations through which Chill applies for grant awards and hand-outs at trade events such as the SIA show and consumer shows. Host mountains also receive logo placement on the Chill Website housed on Burton Snowboard’s Website (www.burton.com). Chill also issues press releases listing host mountains in Burton’s press packets that are sent to resorts as well as national and regional media outlets, including magazines, newspapers and television stations.
But most importantly, Chill brings new and future customers to the mountains. It transposes city-kids into wintersport lovers and introduces them to mountain resorts that are close by. “Chill is about opportunity as much as it is about snowboarding,” says Davis. “The program is for those who would otherwise never have the chance to ride, or even visit a resort.”
Learn to Ride
In 1993, Arn Menconi founded the Snowboard Outreach Society (SOS) in Vail, Colo. This non-profit charity created a program called Learn to Ride, which also targets at-risk youth.
As with Chill, Learn to Ride works with youth agencies, grant foundations, mountain resorts and outdoor industry product companies to provide five days of snowboard instruction, equipment and clothing loans, and access to the slopes.
To date, approximately 450 kids have passed through the program at Vail, Winter Park, Breckenridge, Beaver Creek, Bear Mountain, Snowbird and The Summit at Snoqualmie. This season, organizers would like to enroll 1,000 kids and are looking for more mountain resorts.
SOS provides regional coordinators to train instructors at each area and provides a comprehensive curriculum. They also supply the kids.
For more information, contact SOS at (970) 845-7040. —JR
