For more than three decades, DREAM Adaptive Recreation has been working to get people with physical and cognitive disabilities outside to recreate in the Flathead Valley. Participants and volunteers call it life-changing. And now, the non-profit is expanding to work with veterans.
Griffin Espeseth is a champion skier. He and his mom, Janet, are looking at silver medals he won at the Special Olympics in his bedroom in Kalispell.
"Griff which one of these do you think might be your skiing medal?" Janet asks.
"This one because on the back it has a skier," says Griffin.
Griffin and his twin, Ty, were diagnosed with autism at an early age, and while it doesn’t define who they are, for a while it meant the Espeseth family needed a little more help than what’s offered in traditional ski lessons. The 14-year-old twins have been skiing for almost a decade with volunteers from DREAM at Whitefish Mountain Resort, Ty says.
“Ever since we were five we have ski instructors from DREAM who helped us learn how to ski and conquer all sorts of runs,” says Ty.
Ty says learning to ski taught him more than just learning to point his tips downhill.
"It just helps us prepare for other fears and other new things that we're worried about, but once we get up and go for it, we're pretty much on a roll with it," Ty says.
Ty and Griff’s mom, Janet, says DREAM has had a profound impact on her family.
"It's made it so we see the possibility of what our boys can do, and I think it's going to affect their lives and our lives forever because now we do go up on the weekends and ski like any other family."
Putting the boys in ski lessons with DREAM also meant Janet had time to ski with her daughter, Millie, which was a rare treat. "It was just us," says Janet. "Just those opportunities as well for her when she was little, that was huge."
DREAM started out as a winter sports program catering to local schools and adults, offering adaptive alpine skiing at Whitefish Mountain Resort. It has since expanded to include water sports, like stand up paddle boarding lessons, in the summer, and now, they’re starting to work with veterans.
"The need is there," says Cheri DuBeau Carlson, executive director of DREAM.
Last month Carlson announced DREAM received a $50,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to expand veteran-specific adaptive winter alpine programming. The grant will help cover the cost of travel, lodging and meals for veterans, along with volunteer trainings and new equipment.
"It's kind of a challenge to get them to engage and come out," says Carlson, "but they're there, so we gotta keep knocking."
Carlson says the Flathead Valley is home to a large population of veterans, and for many of them, it’s hard to experience all the valley has to offer. DREAM volunteers will undergo sensitivity training specific to veterans in addition to learning to use adaptive equipment. She says the new veteran program is just another way DREAM is expanding to meet the needs of the valley.
"It helps to improve their quality of life, which is what adaptive sports does for a lot of people, but specifically for them." Carlson says. "They've experienced a lot of stuff that can have a negative effect on your life and psyche. They gave to us, why can't we give back to them?"
Last season, DREAM gave 1,300 adaptive lessons to local and vacation destination riders. Carlson is expecting more participants this year as word spreads.
Recently, Valerie Thrasher signed up volunteers at Kalispell Brewing Company’s benefit night.
"We've got the volunteer applications here for the winter alpine program," says Thrasher. "The first part is going to be the application, the second part is the insurance waiver."
Thrasher signed up about 30 people at the event, but she’s still hoping for more.
"It's a great night. We're hoping to have 120 active volunteers in our program," says Thrasher.
Clay Colby of Kalispell has been with DREAM for 22 years. He started for the free lift ticket he got as a perk for volunteering and was hooked after one of his first lessons with a young man who was blind.
"I skied behind him and tapped my poles so he knew where I was and just told him what to do, where to turn," says Colby.
Cheryl Luke also re-upped her volunteer application last Tuesday. She’s been volunteering with the program for three years.
"Aww. It makes you feel so good," says Luke. "It's so worth it to see the smiles on their faces ... nothing can explain how you feel when you're done spending a day with these kids."
DREAM’s next event is November 19 in Whitefish, the third annual “Evening of Inspiration” with Vasu Sojitra, an extreme adaptive athlete.
