SAAS 2021 Annual Fundraiser

My name is Tina Bonnell, and I am the program director for Ski Apache Adaptive Sports (SAAS). I am looking to raise money for supplies, PPE, adaptive equipment, and continuing education for staff to bring the best lesson for our students and veterans. We also except item donations for our online auctions. SAAS is an independent 501© 3 non-profit organization dedicated to offering skiing and snow-sports opportunities for individuals with disabilities. SASS is a COVID-safe certified has a fully COVID-safe certified staff. The staff is also adaptive certified. These certifications are to better provide a safer environment and overall experience.

Our staff here at SAAS has a commitment to student success. Our ability to uphold our commitment to our students and quality of teaching is more important than ever. We have students counting on us, and we cannot let them down! We hope we can count on you to help us hang in there so we continue to provide these amazing kids, adults, and veterans the specialized teaching they require and rightly deserve. SAAS also educates the public on issues facing individuals with disabilities and their efforts to gain equal access to the mountain environment.

Our goals are to enrich the lives of individuals with disabilities through snow-sports and recreation in a safe and fun environment, develop the potential of each student, support and encourage participation in sports and recreation, introduce a life-long activity to individuals often marginalized by society and denied access to recreation activities, and encourage a culture of safety, fun, and learning. To ensure that individuals with special needs enjoy the feeling of freedom in gliding and sense of accomplishment that invigorates snow sport for everyone, a professional staff of certified coaches and volunteers work with a wide range of students who have physical and cognitive disabilities including, but not limited to, limb amputation, partial and full paralysis, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, spina bifida, down syndrome, post-polio, visual and/or hearing impaired, brain injuries, developmentally disabled, autism spectrum disorder, and disabled veterans.

Our mission is to provide snow-sports instruction for any person with a disability, regardless of the severity of the impairment or financial limitations.

This program is important to me, as I am sure it is to you. Our students come from the entire southeast New Mexico region and include public school special ed programs, rehabilitation, and treatment centers, the NMSBVI, various support groups, and individual students in/and out of state. The importance of our program is to help provide an environment that is social and safe for our students. That they can have fun while learning through a snow-sport and recreation.

Ski Apache Adaptive Sports depends on financial contributions, in-kind donations, fundraisers, and student fees for its existence and receives no tribal, no state, or no federal funds. Currently in our 44th season, SAAS is one of the oldest snow programs in the country since 1976. We have a couple of in-person fundraisers each year to help provide funding. Do to the current COVID-19 pandemic, these fundraising events could not take place. Your donation provides and will be used towards supplies, new modern, safe adaptive equipment, continuing education for our fully certified staff to best teach their student, and PPE for safety of student and coach. The adaptive equipment enables individuals with disabilities to participate in an activity that changes their lives in a positive way. Helping someone in a wheelchair, braces, crutches, or immobile to experience grace, fluidity, freedom, and control or to empower an individual labeled by society as “incapable of learning” transcends the meaning of sports.

I am now asking our community and anyone interested in donating to please help our program and students. Your donation can do so much. You can give our students a lifetime experience on the snow that they will remember, love, and want to return to. Your support is essential especially during these challenging COVID-19 times. (We will supply all donors with a receipt with our number available for tax write off.)

Thank you in advance for contribution. You have no idea how much it means to me to have your support. Our website shows the donor sponsorships. There are many ways you can donate:

• Online
• Like and Follow our Facebook
• Send a check made out to:
  Ski Apache Adaptive Sports (SAAS)
  PO Box 2138
  Ruidoso, NM 88355
• Item donation (local pick only or can send to the above address) for this year’s online auction.
• Call our office at (575) 464-3193