Perisher Valley (NSW), Australia – ) Last week the CHILL Foundation joined forces with snowboard company Burton, Youth Off The Streets and the Perisher Resort to provide an opportunity for 14 at-risk youth to visit the snow and learn to snowboard through the CHILL snow program.nThrough the sport of snowboarding, CHILL aims to teach the kids vital life skills including patience, persistence, responsibility, courage, integrity and pride by taking them outside of their usual circle of friends, outside of their comfort zone, and placing them in an environment that can at times be both challenging and rewarding.
“CHILL empowers these kids by including them in a world that they have previously seen as belonging to someone else. CHILL gives them a peek at what is possible and provides them with a healthy, new perspective about themselves and their world,” explained Director of the Australian CHILL Foundation, Tim Morris.
Fourteen kids aged 12-18 from Youth Off The Streets were transported from Sydney to Jindabyne to take part in the CHILL snow program. Upon arrival they were provided with Burton snowboarding equipment, dressed head to toe in Burton snow gear, and were shuttled up the mountain to Perisher each day where they enjoyed the slopes and took lessons on how to snowboard, as well as learning valuable life skills with the encouragement and guidance of CHILL Foundation staff.
“It was great to be in the position to assist by hosting this worthy cause here at Perisher last week,” said General Manager of Marketing and Hospitality for Perisher, Gary Grant. “Spring is a great time in the mountains and with all the recent snow falls they couldn’t have planned a better time for the kids to experience the sport.”
The lucky 14 were chosen from the CHILL skate program, which was held at the Monster Skate Park at Sydney Olympic Park, where iSkate coaches teach the kids from Youth Off The Streets how to skateboard. Youth Off the Streets and CHILL Foundation then selected 14 kids from these classes who they believed would benefit most from the CHILL snow program.
Jake and Donna, the founders of Burton Snowboards, started CHILL in 1995 in Burlington, Vt., to bring snowboarding to youth who otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity. The program had such an immediate and profound impact that it has continued to expand into new cities, new board sports, and new countries over the past 14 seasons. Since its inception, CHILL has positively impacted over 14,000 underserved youth.