News And Events

 

MHS Ski-A-Thon Offers Participants Opportunity to Give Back

 

Bob Sargent and his family are used to transition and challenge.  His thirty years of service in the military and federal government included eighteen years overseas in six different countries.  However, July of 2005 brought an unexpected change to the lives of Bob and his family.  Then retired and living year-round in Sargentville, Maine, Bob had a stroke that paralyzed the left side of his body.  Accustomed to numerous activities with their seemingly invincible patriarch, the injury jolted the entire family.  However, the aftermath landed particularly hard on grandsons Rory Sargent and Beckett Slayton, aged 9 and 10 respectively, who were left wondering if they would ever ski with their grandfather again.

With the help of the staff and several of 450 volunteers at Maine Handicapped Skiing, and especially the Veterans/No Boundaries program, the Sargents continue to enjoy regular family ski vacations at Sunday River, and Bob is once again skiing independently with the use of specialized skills and adaptive equipment. “Last week, son Rob, son-in-law Bob Slayton, grandsons Rory Sargent and Beckett Slayton and I had a ‘guys weekend’ of skiing at Sunday River. My family and I will forever be grateful to MHS for getting Granddad back into skiing,” said Mr. Sargent.

Maine Handicapped Skiing, a non-profit organization, was founded in 1982 to provide free adaptive recreation opportunities for children and adults with physical disabilities.  The organization currently serves over 300 participants statewide through year-round programs that include alpine and nordic skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing, golf, canoeing, kayaking, and cycling.  In 2005, the Veterans/No Boundaries program was launched to bring together veterans and active duty personnel who have physical disabilities as well as their families for five days of alpine and nordic skiing, snowshoeing, dog sledding and snowmobiling each winter, and three days of golf, cycling, fishing, climbing wall, and paddling each summer.  “Veterans/No Boundaries is an opportunity for disabled veterans and their guests to participate in free adaptive recreational programs at a time when they are readjusting to daily activities after an injury. These activities may be something they have done prior to their injury and really enjoyed and thought they would not enjoy again, or it may be a completely new adventure that may lead to other opportunities for a healthier lifestyle in the future,” according to MHS Board member Joanne McMahon.  This year’s winter event took place in Newry, Maine on February 5th-9th and included 19 participants and their families, as well as roughly sixty volunteers each day.  Bob Sargent summed up his experience at the 2009 event, “I also am immensely grateful for the opportunity to have associated these three years with countless courageous, enthusiastic and determined fellow participants who are dealing heroically with ‘bumps in the road,’ including veterans of the US Armed Forces who have sustained significant injuries in Vietnam, the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan.”

Now participants of Veterans/No Boundaries like Bob Sargent have an opportunity to give back to this program and others at MHS through fundraising in the 24th annual Ski-A-Thon, which takes place on Saturday, March 21, 2009 at Sunday River Resort and Sunday River Inn & Cross Country Center.  Mr. Sargent and other Ski-A-Thon participants form five-person teams that solicit pledges and participate in a fun-filled day of relay races, obstacle courses, and other contests geared towards raising awareness and funding for MHS’s free adaptive recreation programs.  His team “The Dreammakers,” and other teams create web pages through www.firstgiving.com, where they have the opportunity to post pictures, tell their personal stories, and track their fundraising progress.  “Fundraising in this case is a team competition.  The least we can do is to ask friends and family to help us give back to this amazing organization. It is our fervent hope that such family and friends will help our team, the Dreammakers, bring home some bacon,” Mr. Sargent says on his web page. Those interested in pledging can peruse the participants’ sites, and make on-line pledges securely and conveniently.  All donations and pledges are tax-deductible and support MHS’s mission and programs, and the Ski-A-Thon typically raises roughly 65% of the organizations annual operating budget, making it one of Maine’s largest single-day fundraising event.  MHS is also currently seeking additional participants and teams for the 2009 Ski-A-Thon.

To learn more about Bob Sargent and his experiences through MHS, please visit his Ski-A-Thon webpage www.firstgiving.com/bobsargent1.  To participate in the 2009 Ski-A-Thon or find out more about Veterans/No Boundaries and all of Maine Handicapped Skiing’s year-round adaptive recreation programs and upcoming events, please visit the website at www.skimhs.org or call (800) 639-7770.  You can also see MHS alpine skiing programs in action daily at Sunday River, and on weekends at Sugarloaf.

 

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