Ecker Timberwolves

“Niños On Skis”

Remember the first time you learned something new at school…and you always remembered the teacher who really made a difference? Or, think back to a sports coach who might have helped you reach your goals or learn a new skill. Parents…watch the joy your children have as they return each day from school filled with new ideas! Along the way…someone special took the time to reach out and care.

We are blessed to live in a world-class ski resort. Unfortunately, not every child in our community is able to enjoy the mountain fun we take for granted.  In 1998 Father Bob had a vision for helping the Hispanic children in our community learn to ski.  Each winter we have continued this wonderful tradition while sharing the warmth and love of those in our Park City community.  This is a very rewarding program and the Hispanic children in our program will forever remember the fun we share together with them.

Each year Saint Mary’s Catholic Church hosts a ski program called “Niños On Skis”.  This programs pairs Hispanic children in grades 2nd-8th with sponsoring families from the community.  This program is designed to “connect” those in our community with members of Hispanic families.

As part of the program…Park City Mountain Resort provides a season ski pass for each of these Hispanic children as well as their first three ski lessons from the best of Park City ski instructors, Aloha Ski & Snowboard does the ski tuning and provides rental ski boots and skis, the thrift shop in Heber provides all the necessary ski clothing [goggles, hats, neck gaiters, helmets, gloves, ski jackets, ski pants, sweaters and socks.] and Father Bob can always be seen carving some turns with our Niños.

Working together…each sponsor, or sponsoring family, helps their Niño select appropriate ski equipment, ski clothing and completes the necessary paperwork for a free season pass at Park City Mountain Resort.  During the first three Saturdays in December we meet at the base of the PayDay lift at 9:15 a.m and the ski lessons for the Niños are from 9:30-12:00 p.m.  In addition, we will also meet at the Legacy Lodge around 12:15 p.m. and have lunch together as a group, compliments of Father Bob and Saint Mary’s.  After lunch…sponsors are certainly welcome to continue skiing in the afternoon with their Niños.

A few notes about the program…

==>>Speaking Spanish is not required. The Niños speak English, as do others in their home.

==>>Having your ski pass at Park City Mountain Resort is required.  This allows you the freedom to take your Niño skiing whenever you like.  The more often, the better.

==>>Once the ski lessons are completed in December…sponsors are welcome and encouraged to bring their Niños to ski.  We ski as a family on Sunday afternoons when the resort is winding down–inviting our Niños to ski with us, we have dinner somewhere on the mountain and their parents then come to the resort to pick them up.

This is the 11th year our family has sponsored three Niños…and each year the program gets bigger and better–because of wonderful sponsors from our Park City community.  If you are interested in learning more about how to become a sponsor for the “Niños On Skis” program, call Ernest Oriente at 615-8486 or send an E-mail to ernest@powerhour.com.  Our first meeting connecting the Niños and sponsors will be on Thursday, October 29th.