In today’s cyber world of non physical indoor play and a resulting increase in child obesity, the Texas Ski Council Youth Foundation (TSCYF) was created to help promote outdoor family exercise in the winter months.  By helping families fund participation in group ski and snowboard trips they help our youth gain a responsibility and respect for the outdoor environment as well as promote fitness and self esteem. By partnering with resorts in the ski industry the TSCYF also promotes the family unit by requiring that the children attend with adult family members.

Through their individual club delegates in August 2004, The Texas Ski Council (TSC) voted to establish this Youth Foundation by contributing $10,000 in start-up funds from the TSC.  With this seed money the Foundation has created ongoing programs to assist families with transportation expenses and to encourage area resorts to provide discounted lessons. This funding will provide the opportunity for children from all socio-economic levels to experience winter sports in a family setting.

As a 501(c)(3) Non Profit tax deductible charity, we hope to raise enough funds each year to more substantially assist with transportation costs as well as to assist our Ski Partners to minimize the affect of the rising cost of lessons and rentals.

Since 2005, through Thanksgiving holiday partnerships with resorts such as Breckenridge, Keystone and Winter Park, we have helped subsidize travel expenses for hundreds of children from 4 to 15 years of age. Our ski partners provide financial assistance with ski or snowboard lessons, rentals and lift tickets since it is required a child attends at least 3 days of ski or snowboard lessons of any level to be eligible for the partial travel reimbursement.

Due to coinciding state-wide spring breaks we have recently expanded our TSCYF trips to include our TSC Final Showdown spring break trips. This is an excellent opportunity for a physically active spring family vacation in the snow.  Our first spring break trip was to Snowbird Utah in March 2011 which was a resounding success! We hope to continue to be able to fund travel on many future spring break trips.

Our fundraising activities have included silent and live auctions, golf tournaments, corporate donations, individual donations and many diverse fundraising events on our TSC trips. We also plan to add wine tasting events, donations from ski swaps, dance parties and other events in the near future.

Do you believe in the critical role of sport and physical play in children’s lives? At the most fundamental level, sport, play and recreational activities are a child’s right. Added to this is the broad consensus that regular physical activity is essential for the physical, mental, psychological and social development of children and adolescents. Involvement in sport can boost children’s health, improve academic performance and help reduce crime.

Do you believe that sport can be an effective programmatic tool to help achieve goals in health, education, gender equality, and child development? That is the concept of sport for development – that sport is not just an end in itself, but also an effective tool to help improve the lives of children, families and communities.

If you believe, please go to our Donate tab on www.TSCYF.org and donate on line now, or contact us or the TSC for more information on how to join a local Texas Ski Council Club so you can participate in this program with your family, or find out how you can help on a committee.