I was born June 5, 1965. I do not know my ethnicity 100%. I was placed in Foster Care and then adopted by a Missionary/Evangelist couple. I was raised as an only child, in a very spiritual home, where I was taught the blessings of serving mankind. We were very poor but rich in love.
When I was 12, we lived in a small boarder town between California and Oregon. All my school friends would go skiing on winter break to Mt. Shasta or Mt. Bachelor. My family could not afford to send me. It was the first time I felt financial and racial limitations. It was on December 25, 1977, when I made a vow that one day I would learn to SKI!
I met my husband in August 1987. He too, had a passion for skiing. On December 25, 1987, he gave me my first pair of skis, and I have been skiing ever since. We raised our family to look forward to winter and never lived farther than an hour and half away from a ski area. Skiing to our family was more than just a hobby or activity, it it was the glue that bonded us together.
I started ski instructing in 2006, at Badger Pass, Yosemite, California, with a nonprofit program called M.A.S.S. (Mountain Area Ski School). Teaching children taught me how to measure the success of my life. I realized it didn't matter how much money I made, what kind of car I drove or even how big my house was. What made me successful was that I had learned to ski regardless of preconceived limitations and each child that I teach becomes a priceless jewel to me.
In June of 2009, I felt the inspiration to develop a Winter Sports Program that would reach out to all children in an effort to create new experiences and equal opportunity, in an effort to create new experiences and equal opportunity, regardless of financial, geographical or racial challenges.
I know there are children out there who feel just as I did when I was 12. Please help me find them! Together we can make a difference in their lives.
Treasurer
Molly Terry
The common season of choice amongst youth is summer. With school out, swimming, camping, sleepovers,
movie nights and hanging out with friends what's not to love about summer? But what about OLD MAN WINTER?
As a child other kids snickered and many of times just couldn't understand why I proclaimed my love for the winter season. Unlike most families my family did not take summer vacations. We took winter vacations. We rode chair lifts and jammed down mountains on our skis. "Kick in and go" was our family motto. I realized shortly after my
10th birthday that skiing was a privilege. My parents worked hard to pay for our family hobby. I also witnessed and experienced firsthand how my activity and involvement in winter sports as a minority and youth helped me become
the women and leader I am today.
Besides basketball and a few other recreational sports there isn't a lot of winter activities offered to youth,
especially inner city minority youth. While growing up I remember winter months, on my Native American Reservation, as lonely and cold and sometimes it looked and felt hopeless. I was fortunate enough to have something to keep me motivated, self-aware, confident, happy and most important, hopeful. It was skiing.
As a young girl my first goal was to conquer my fears of heights by challenging myself to ride the chair lift, then journey down the mountain. Peace, serenity and freedom feels my soul even to this day as I muster the courage to test my own limits, even now as I conquer black diamonds and prepare to teach other minority children to ski.
I look forward, with great hope to be an instrument in this organization!
Secretary
Amanda Williams
As a child growing up in the mountains I loved it when it snowed. Every year my school had “Ski Week”. A week that we had off to do just that…SKI! The catch was that you had to pay for the instruction/rentals. No one in my immediately family skied and we couldn’t afford it so learning to ski was out of the question. It wasn’t until my 8th grade year that I was given the most cherished gift of all…my grandmother had paid for me to learn to ski during the annual “Ski Week”. I still remember riding the school bus to the ski resort….I was learning to ski….I was doing something that I never thought possible.
I never looked back and have been skiing ever since. Skiing is a part of who I am. I cannot go one day without thinking about snow, skiing, skis, the wind in my face, etc. Skiing has become such a part of me…that I want to share my passion with others. There is nothing better than feeling the wind on your face as you glide down the mountain.
I look forward to seeing that same passion start to grow in the youth that I teach….I feel fortunate to be able to teach a sport that I enjoy more than anything else.
