Skiing kids integrate Park City communities

Courtesy photo/ St. Mary of the Assumption Parish

+ Enlarge

Children from disadvantaged homes can learn to ski through St. Mary of the Assumption Parish’s Niños on Skis program.

PARK CITY- A dozen years ago, Father Robert Bussen, then-pastor of Saint Mary of the Assumption Parish, started a program called ‘Niños on Skis’ to help children of immigrant families learn one of Utah’s favorite sports. Although Fr. Bussen is on sabbatical this winter, the program is up and running thanks to the efforts of three Catholics.

"It is a lot of work," said Mike Gardner, who, with his wife and Ernest Oriente, coordinate the program. Gardner has been involved with the program for the past six years. "We have been working on putting everything together since August," he said.

Niños on Skis is a part of St. Mary Parish’s outreach efforts. Immigrant children often want to ski but can’t because of the lack of resources, Gardner said. Through the Niños program, elementary schoolchildren are paired with local families who teach them to ski, "and that’s where the connection is" between the parish’s Anglo community and the immigrant community, Gardner said.

"Father Bob was able to come up with this program and we get a lot of community support from Park City," he added.

Among those that help provide resources for the program are Park City Mountain Resort, which offers a season ski pass as well as three ski lessons in December and Aloha Skis, which provides the skis, boots and poles. St. Lawrence Thrift Store in Heber City provides the necessary ski clothing (goggles, hats, necks, pants, helmets, gaiters, socks, etc.)

The sponsor families pick up the children and take them to the mountain. Sponsors must have their own season pass at Park City Mountain Resort, and be willing to spend time teaching a child to ski.

This year 60 kids are participating in the program. "Unfortunately, we do have to turn away some children" because there aren’t enough sponsors, Gardner said. Everything is set for the kids to hit the slope, "now we’re just waiting for the Good Lord to give us some snow," he said.

One of the children who was turned away is Luis Jimenez, who attends the Sunday night Spanish Mass at St. Mary. "I heard about the program, but it was too late," he said. "Hopefully I’ll be in next year. It sounds like fun."

One benefit of this program is that it gives kids whose parents usually work something to do at a time where they might otherwise be unsupervised.

"If they don’t have anything to do on the weekends, they might find something not that good to do and that leads to bad habits," Gardner said. "This is a way of getting the kids out of their apartments. If they did not have this to do they might just being sitting around watching television so this gets them out of their home, gets them some exercise and gives them a skill. It is a good life lesson for them."