People at Their Best... What Happens at Ski For Light, Doesn't Stay at Ski For Light

Transcript Below Christine writes about the wonderful volunteers supporting the Ski for Light program. Check out more about SkiForLight on the web at www.skiforlightorg And follow Christine Malecc on Audioboom and twitter @ChristineMalec

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Hey everybody on the Blind Abilities channel, thanks for following and today for through back Thursday

Ah Jeff it's Tuesday

We're featuring Christine Malec's post on ski for light. It's a great post and make sure you follow Christine Malec on Audio Boom and on Twitter @ Christine Malec. So without further ado here's her post.

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Hello, I'd like to read a blog post I wrote about this time last year. It's about an event called Ski for Light which you may have heard of. The post is titled "People at their best".

On the desk in my treatment room rest a new ornament it's a trophy consisting of a ski tip set into a beautiful wooden base. On the inscription on the front declares it to be an award for second place in the women's snow shoeing race at the 2014 Black Hill's Ski for Light event. I have never won a trophy in my life till now. As a blind person I would argue that I often get the chance to see people at their best. Most of the cool recreational stuff I get to participate in, sailing, tandem cycling, running, Dragon boating, Blind tennis and skiing only happen because really excellent people give generously of their time, energy and money. The snow shoeing trophy I won was made by one of the benefactors of the ski even and presented by one of the multitude of friendly and warm hearted volunteers without whom the event simply couldn't happen.

The banquet on the last night contained a memorial to all the people who made this event a success for 35 years running. Ski for Light is an international organization that host annual events in which blind, visual impaired and mobility impaired skiers are paired with sighted volunteer guides for a week of winter sport and a comradely family atmosphere, the like of which I have never experienced anywhere else.

When I attended my first Ski for Light event 4 years ago, I hadn't spent much time socializing with other blind people. I had catapulted myself in among the best. Having skied before I knew about the reserves of determination required to pick yourself up out of the snow for the fifth or tenth time. Getting up the up slopes is mostly a matter of strength but getting down the down slopes need balance, guts, trust in yourself and luck. At least until you have mastered a good snowplow. A failure of any of these will reliably result in what is a (inaudible) referred to as a yard sale, The distinctive jumble of skis, poles and limbs from which you must somehow extract yourself and retain vertical status. By about my fourth yard sale I usually take 10 seconds or so just to lye still in the snow, while reassuring my guide that I am really okay, I'm just resting. Each yard sale gets incremental harder as you accrue minor aches or injuries and generally get more tires. Knowing all of this intimately I was awed to see a hundred or so blind people keep going and going and going, Most of them more competent and resilient than me. Each of them had the resources of courage, adventurousness, athleticism, sociability and finance to spend a week of their lives here and really enjoy it and seeing this in others helped me see it in myself.

Of course none of this would be possible without the people that volunteer as guides and organizers. What kind of people gives a week of their vacation, which they pay for to help others? I can answer that easily, incredible people. I have attended four Ski for Light events. Each time I have tried to express to my guide and to other volunteers, how much I admire their generosity. Each time I'm reassured with a sincerity I can't doubt that they get as much out of the week as the participants do. I can only accept their serenity as I unobtrusively wipe away a tear or two. As a conscientious hippy I often hear about the gap between rich and poor and the inequities in our society. At each Ski for Light event I am submerged in the other truths, generosity, sharing what we have to share and giving what we have to give. At the most recent event I attended in South Dakota, a well-established and recognized benefactor of the event paid $1000 for a quilt at the silent auction then donated it to a longtime volunteer. The hotel which guested the participants is partly owned by another benefactor and our fees were so low that they simply had to have been underwritten by his generosity. For blind people a population notoriously low on the income scale, such benevolence surely made the difference between being able to attend or not for many of us. All of our ski and snow shoe equipment was provided; volunteers made and maintained the trails for the week. More volunteers created an oasis in a snowy field on Federal land consisting of a huge tent complete with wood stove, cauldrons of delicious food and drink and a delightful party atmosphere, in fact if you cared to you could fore go winter sport altogether and laze around the tent all day being plied with homemade kettle chips, and hot chocolate to which a magical ingredient had be added to keep the chill away.

There were so many cool people there that you could spend each day talking with someone you hadn't met before for somewhere you had never been who does something for a living you know nothing about. As a blind person you are the rule not the exception and you can receive as much or as little help as you want or need.

It's really hard to say what my favorite part of these events is, but if had to choose one thing I'd say it's the quality of the people I meet there. The participants are courage, resourceful and game for a challenge. The donors and volunteers are warm, caring, fun loving people who choose to give their vacation time to helping others and to be a part of something that's bigger then themselves.

Thanks for listening if you are interested in anymore of my blog post on a range of subjects, not all of them blindness related you can go to my website at www.beltanethebook.com that is BELTANE THE BOOK.COM. Cheers.

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