Joe's CHiLL winter
Hey Everyone in EOW Land! Joe here...
Some of you may have noticed that I was missing this winter... Where is Joe you may have found yourself asking... maybe nobody even realized I was gone...
Anyways, I moved to Salt Lake City working for Burton Snowboard's organization CHiLL as the SLC Program Coordinator. What is CHiLL?
CHiLL is a non profit, learn to ride board sports program for at risk kids. Every year, we take over 100 kids from each city to the slopes, beach, and skate parks and provide them with everything they need to ride: lessons, transportation, gear, and tickets, whatever. Founded in 1995 by Jake and Donna, owners of Burton Snowboards, CHiLL gives disadvantaged boys and girls the opportunity to participate in board sports.
Operating in 19 North American cities, Sydney, Australia and Innsbruck, Austria, Chill works in communities with agencies that serve youth who are challenged by a multitude of issues. Some live in group homes and foster care, some are drug or alcohol addicted, some come from the juvenile justice system, and some deal daily with violence, excessive anger, depression, and feelings of worthlessness. Many of the kids we work with have never left their cities, or even their neighborhoods, and most have never experienced riding on a mountain or a wave. More than that, Chill gives these youth an opportunity to belong to a community of riders and helps them see beyond their existing circumstances to envision what the possibilities for their lives might be. We use board sports to help kids accomplish goals they never thought they could while teaching them some of the most important lessons of life- patience, persistence, responsibility, courage, integrity, and pride-all through positive adult role models who treat them with respect and encouragement.
Working with about 200 participants in SLC, CHiLL was an amazing experience (to say the least). Getting to snowboard everyday, meeting new people, giving back to the sport by teaching newbies, and helping kids that do not have the opportunity to ride are just a few examples. Not to mention flying across the country with two boys from SLC and experiencing the US OPEN in Stratton, Vermont.
Introducing kids to snowboarding, seeing the smiles on their faces when they figure out how to connect turns, and hearing the stories of how something as simple as learning how to snowboard changed kids lives, really makes me realize why we all got involved in the shredding, shralping, and paddling we do.
