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On our winter bike expedition we had this amazing experience...
For our spring break, my husband Pat & I rode our fat tire bikes from Kotzebue to Buckland - about 100 miles on wind blown snow and sparse trails. We got to Buckland in 3 days , a village of about 450 Inupiat Eskimos, just below the Arctic Circle, only accessible by snow machine (or boat in summer). As we wandered through the town, we ran into Marcy Baker and her small volunteer coaching crew from Anchorage called RuRAL CAP Ski-Go Club!
They had just flown in to teach Nordic skiing to the children there. The 150 kids in Buckland had not seen Nordic skis before and the enthusiasm level was very high.
Marcy was short handed , so we stayed and helped teach skiing to the kids for 3 days, ages 4 -18.
I was honored to also help a blind 12 year old, Jerry learn how to ski. By 2nd day he was skiing very well and could go down hills forward and back wards. He preferred backwards! And he could cross the windy icy Buckland River on his plastic wax-less skis with no problem! He says that he wants to start a ski team now.
We watched Nordic skiing light up young faces and lives that week in Buckland. Kids couldn't wait to go out again, even in 60 mph winds! They were jumping off river banks, skiing down big hills and learning how to go fast on their own power. They made their ski poles out of willow when we didn't have enough poles.
With snow machines and TV as a major source of activity there, this program opened a brand new window of opportunity for many young lives there.
We really were impressed by this awesome quietly run program.
We stumbled onto it by accident and it has changed our lives as we saw it transforming others.
We wanted to share it with EVERYBODY, to help keep it going. |
RURAL CAP SKI-GO CLUB
Is in its 3rd year, created by Mellen Shea, Marcy Baker, and Jennifer Johnston, this program was
started with a grant from Norton-Cruz Family Foundation & Cathy Rasmuson, plus a lot of in kind donations. Since then they have received money from Maniilaq and a matching grant from Rasmuson Foundation to buy skis.
The Norton-Cruz Family Foundation has continued to support this great mission.
In 2006, two volunteer groups , organized by Marcy and Jennifer introduced Nordic skiing to 8 small remote villages in Northwest Alaska! They were able to leave some skis behind in all the villages.
In 2007 they hope to send 4 groups out to reach even more remote villages.
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TO DONATE
USED OR NEW SKIS AND BOOTS and POLES!
adult and child sizes
Contact Marcy Baker
at AMH: 907 272-1811
home : 907 248-1361
To send a money donation please make checks out to
RuRAL CAP
and mail to:
Jennifer B. Johnston
11090 Hideaway Lake Drive Anchorage, Alaska 99507
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