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America Supports You: Volunteers, Sponsors Drive Disabled Vets Sports Clinic
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
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SNOWMASS VILLAGE, Colo., April 1, 2008 – As nearly 400 disabled
veterans enjoy the National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic
here, officials credit a legion of volunteers and sponsors as the
driving force behind the clinic’s success.
Gretchen
Annan, a volunteer from the VA Medical Center in Grand Junction, Colo.,
helps Jarod Behee, an Army veteran blinded during operations in Iraq,
through the food line at the 22nd National Disabled Veterans Winter
Sports Clinic in Snowmass Village, Colo. Defense Dept. photo by Donna
Miles
(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. |
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The six-day event, which opened here March 30 and continues through
April 4, gives severely disabled veterans the opportunity to ski, rock
climb, scuba dive, trapshoot, snowmobile, and try their hand at sled
hockey and wheelchair fencing, among other activities -- all with the
help of more than 600 volunteers.
In
addition, 76 sponsors have joined forces with the Department of
Veterans Affairs and Disabled American Veterans to fund the $1 million
program, according to Edward Hartman, DAV’s national director for
voluntary services.
“None of this is possible without the
power of all the people who make it happen,” said Sandy Trombetta, who
came up with the concept of the winter sports clinic and has served as
VA’s national director for the program throughout its 22-year history.
Trombetta
praised the sponsors who finance the activities and volunteers who
return year after year, giving up vacation time and paying their own
way to get here to work with the veterans. “They all want to be part of
something bigger than themselves,” he said. “What you see here is
people really giving back to others. It still leaves me awestruck.”
Theresa
Parks, event coordinator for the past five years, said it would be
impossible to run the clinic without the volunteers' support. “What
they do is huge,” she said. “They all make such a commitment. There
just isn’t a better group of people to work with than our volunteers.”
Parks
called their efforts a labor of love that translates into a supportive
environment where veterans with severe disabilities can push their
limits, and, ultimately, form lasting friendships. “They treat the
veterans like family, and embrace them like a brother or son or
father,” he said. “There’s a real sense of connection that takes place
here.”
Among the volunteers are more than 200 certified
adaptive ski instructors, including current and former members of the
U.S. Disabled Ski Team, coaches and support staff.
Kevin
Ridley, an adaptive ski instructor from Boston, is a first-time
volunteer at the winter sports clinic after working with disabled
veterans in New England for the past 12 years. “This is an awesome
event, and what they are doing for these veterans is amazing,” said
Ridley, a Vietnam veteran.
Like other volunteers at the
clinic, Ridley said he gets more out of his volunteerism than the
participants, particularly when he sees them react after a run down the
mountainside.
“Just to see the smiles on their faces and to
see their confidence built up, with their recognition of what they can
do, is the reward,” he said.
While ski instructors make up a
big percentage of the volunteer force, many volunteers at the winter
sports clinic work in other capacities, running a full range of
activities.
Among them is John Ognie, a Denver resident who
has been volunteering at the clinic since 1995, most of those years
teaching scuba diving. “It’s a great thing for them because of the
sense of freedom they get,” he said. “They get in the pool and they
don’t want to come out.”
A volunteer at the VA hospital in
Denver for more than 20 years and a disabled veteran himself, Ognie
said he gets a special sense of gratification helping his fellow
veterans.
“I enjoy it,” he said. “I just want to be here to help the veterans and their families.”
Elizabeth
Lowery, an employee at the VA medical center in Grand Junction, Colo.,
is volunteering at the clinic for the third year to schedule veterans
for a variety of activities off the ski slopes, load them on buses and
accompany them to the events.
“It’s awe-inspiring just being
here,” she said. “Once you come one time, you always come back. There’s
just nowhere else you want to be.”
Some, like eight volunteers
from Luke Air Force Base, Ariz., pick up veterans at the airport and
transport them between venues during the event. Air Force Master Sgt.
Bryan Malkowski of the 63rd Aircraft Maintenance Unit is back for his
second year at the clinic helping any way he can.
“It’s really
rewarding to see their faces when they’re doing something that they
thought they would never get to do,” he said. “Seeing them enjoy
themselves is the best reward ever.”
Gretchen Annan, also from
the Grand Junction VA medical center, is here for her second clinic,
helping veterans move their trays through the food lines in the dining
room and get settled at their tables to eat three meals served each
day.
Annan said she feels honored to get to work with such
exceptional people who refuse to let a disability get in the way of
living life to its fullest.
“I’m so thankful to be here, and
nothing can make my day happier than seeing someone confronted with so
many challenges still making it through the day,” she said. “It’s
really inspiring.”
Other volunteers, like John Corbett, known
for his roles in “Sex and the City” and “My Big, Fat Greek Wedding”
will take center stage later this week with his band to entertain the
veterans. In addition, actress Bo Derek, honorary chair of VA’s
national rehabilitation special events, will attend activities
throughout the week.
The Snowmass community has opened its
arms to the participants, too, with local restaurants and hotels
treating participants to two parties in the Snowmass Village mall.
During the afternoon leading up to the opening ceremony, more than 10
local restaurants hosted a “Taste of Snowmass” event for attendees. An
even larger event is slated for the clinic’s final day, said Allison
Campbell, Silvertree Hotel’s director of conference services and
coordinator for the event.
“Everybody wants to be a part of
it,” she said. “This is everyone’s most favorite event of the year, and
our way of giving back to these guys and girls who gave for us. … It’s
a definite community thing, and I’m glad to be a part of it.”
The
gratification of providing support to disabled veterans makes
volunteers “want to come back forever,” Parks said. In fact, there's so
little turnover in the clinic’s volunteer force that Parks said she
finds herself having to turn down offers from others who would like to
contribute.
“Our biggest problem -- and it’s hard to call this
a problem -- is that we have to turn away hundreds of people every year
who want to volunteer,” she said. “Our volunteers come, and they stay.”
The volunteers’ dedication isn’t lost on participants here.
“These
volunteers are great people,” said Jarod Behee, an Army veteran blinded
during operations in Iraq who’s attending the winter sports clinic for
the first time this year. “I’m really thankful that they’re here. They
really make it special for us.”
Hope Cooper, an Air Force
veteran medically retired in 1989, said she’s overwhelmed by the
outpouring of volunteers who travel here “on their own dime to help us
with everything and anything.”
“They’re giving of their lives
to us this week, and what they do is heartfelt,” she said. “And do you
want to know the true reason they do it? It’s because they love us.
Knowing that is powerful, and it’s healing.”
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| Military Connection's Comments: Our disabled veterans are enjoying their stay at the National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic at Snowmass Village, Colorado. The clinic is a six-day event that includes skiing, rock climbing, scuba diving, trapshooting, and other fun activities and also is a place where disabled veterans can compete and heal. Thanks to sponsors and volunteers the clinic is a success. Sandy Trombetta is the National Director and initiator of the program. The cost of the clinic is taken care of by generous sponsors. Some of the volunteers are disabled veterans and they inspire newcomers to the sports clinic. The clinic is a healing place for the volunteers. They get great satisfaction in helping the disabled veterans who are learning that being disabled does not mean you can’t live and enjoy life. At the end of their six-day stay, they will have an evening of entertainment. During the week they may get a glimpse of Bo Derek at one activity or another. The clinic at Snowmass is a supporter of the Defense Department’s America Supports You Program. MilitaryConnection.com supports many of these wonderful groups. We provide them space on our web site to feature their special events. We appreciate their good works. Please visit our website at www.militaryconnection.com for more information. |
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