My guest today is Julie Tallman. Julie is the president and CEO of the National Sports Center for the Disabled, one of the most beloved programs here in Grand County. Today we talk about two events that they have going on this winter. The first one is the Wells Fargo event, which is their 49th year February the 20th through the 22nd, and then the ski for NSCD, which is March 22nd, which sounds like such a fun event and I'm actually going to try to participate in it. So learn about these two events and all the things about the NSCD, including how they got started here in the county. So please sit back and enjoy my interview with Julie. Good morning, Julie. Good morning. It's a cold morning, yes, here in Grand County.

Not quite as cold as it's going to get.

I saw that next week I just kind of wanted to close my eyes and it doesn't exist. I was looking at my calendar going do I have to get out next week A couple of days?

but I have a company coming in that want to ski, so I think we'll be on the mountain. Oh, you're brave, no matter what.

You are brave. Well, let's talk about some of the amazing events that you guys have coming up here with the National Sports Center for the Disabled, which is an amazing program here in Grand County Winter Park. So, julie, tell us a little bit about the program and how it got started.

Well, so we're just entering our 55th year, which is hard to believe, but the NSCD has been part of Grand County for 55 years and we're really excited because we have some new you know new things with our events this year. And really being a nonprofit, we are not state or federally funded, so our events really help to ensure that finances aren't a barrier for our participants to be able to participate in our programs. But we serve. Last year we were over 2,100 individuals that we served and provided adaptive programming, winter and summer. Most of us know us for our winter programs, but we're up in Grand County all summer sailing in our therapeutic riding program. But during the winter we're doing Nordic. We have our competition ski program as well as our recreation ski snowboarding and ski bike program up in Graham County.

It's an amazing program Year round. You do a great job, thank you. Well, let's talk about this first event that you have coming up, march the 22nd. Yep, yep, you and I talked about this last year, but we're going to talk about it again this year.

Yeah, well, it's actually changed from last year. So it has been rebranded and the focus of the event has changed slightly. It's still a fundraising event for the NSCD, but it changed from what was called the Vertical Feet Challenge. It is now called Ski for NSCD, which, for some people that have been around the NSCD for a long time or was a volunteer, we actually had a program called Ski for NSCD, so we've kind of stolen that name and rebranded this event. Part of it was based on getting feedback from people that participated that wanted it to be more inclusionary and wanted more opportunities for everyone to be able to ski in the event and help support the NSCD, as opposed to just those that were really competing for vertical feet. So the event now it's a one-day event on March 22nd and those that sign up there'll be prizes for those that either fundraise the most and also for different things that they do on the mountains. So in this case it's more of a scavenger hunt. They will ride 11 lifts and there's going to be different scavenger type things for them to find on the mountain and that's kind of how they win prizes.

North Face is actually our presenting sponsor for this event and there'll be a North Face tent that they'll actually be able to find on the mountain, that they'll be able to. Someone's going to win it at the Alprey ski party after the event. So it's really set up for families, friends and you know really anyone to come out and enjoy a great ski day, have some fun, dress up in costumes, raise some money for the NSCD. We have a peer-to-peer type fundraising platform. That's super easy. You can kind of set up your own platform, set your goals, send it out to friends and family and help support the NSCD through contributions from peer-to-peer fundraising. And at the end of the day there will be an Opry ski party from four to six. It'll be up in just above the derailer in West Portal. So we'll have beer from Coors, which is great. We'll give away prizes. There's an icon pass that someone could win for the following season, which is huge, along with that tent from North Face and other great prizes.

That's great. And the fee, the registration fee, is $75?.

It's $75. That includes the lift ticket, includes all of the food as well as the beer at the end. And then they sign up to raise $150 in fundraising or more. Obviously, we hope people raise more money than $150 in fundraising or, more Obviously, we hope people raise more money than $150. And really I will say it is super easy because once you send that email out to people and say, hey, I'm competing in this to raise money for the NSCD and all the great things we do, usually people jump on board and I've seen most people that can quickly raise a thousand dollars.

Wow, so they exceed actually even that 150. Correct, well, what a, and what a great deal too, to be able to.

Well, that's I mean obviously we have a huge partnership with Winter Park Resort and they're so good to us and they really give back to the NSCD and allowing us to be able to provide and use this as a fundraiser instead of people spending so much money on the lift ticket. So it's a great way to get up and go skiing with your family, if you don't have a season pass, and do it for a good cause Absolutely, and I love that 100% of the proceeds actually support the NSCD.

And it is yeah, it's 100% going to us. I mean, our costs are really low on this, so really almost 100% of what comes in is going straight to help and support our programs and scholarships to get people out and get them active and letting people with disabilities experience the same things that you and I get to experience in the beautiful area up in Grand County.

Okay, so where can people find more information on that event?

So they can go to our website at nscdorg and there is a registration page that is linked on our website. So they can go there, they can register, they can check it out, and you know. The other thing I want to say is if someone can't ski that day, if you're not a skier, if you can't come out, you can still donate, you can still do a fundraising page. You can be a fundraiser for an SCD even if you're not out skiing that day. Obviously, that's the fun part, but we highly encourage you to come out and if you're fundraising for us, even if you're not at the actual ski event, come on down and have a beer with us.

Yeah, that's great, julie. Okay, so that event is March the 22nd and then we bypassed. What's coming up first is February the 22nd, which I can't believe. It's the fourth annual Wells Fargo Ski Camp, no 49th. Oh, did I say what did I say? Fourth annual? Oh, I meant 49th. Oh, did I say what did I say? Fourth annual? Oh, I meant the 49th.

Wow, yeah, that's the 49th Missed some years in there yes, the 49th annual Wells Fargo Ski Cup. It is the 20th through the 22nd. For all of you that have been to the Wells Fargo Ski Cup or seen it, you know you can expect a lot of the same wonderful races happening at the base. It's so much fun to watch our corporate challengers along with our adaptive competition center athletes that are out there racing head-to-head. It's always a photo finish. Eric Peterson, our competition center director, really always makes sure that we have a great lineup and it's really fun racing to watch.

You don't often see head-to-head racing in Winter Park. It's usually one at a time, so seeing that head-to-head is really fun. And then on Friday night we have a new event that started last year. It's called the Snow Boot Soiree and that is a fundraising event and it's actually this year it's taking place at Headwaters. So we have the event Friday night at Headwaters. Well, we'll have dinner, drinks and obviously an opportunity for people to support the NSCD with an auction. You know, and really do more for the mission, and that's really what the Snow Boots Soiree is all about.

Oh, it's an amazing event and that again you can get on your website. Yeah, If people.

You know most of those corporate teams are already spoken for. I think we might have one corporate team available if anyone's interested in putting together a corporate team. But otherwise, if people are interested individually, they can get credentials. They can buy them on our website. They can buy credentials, which there are ones for just the tent and all the fun and drinks at the base, and then there's also ones that include three-day lift tickets. So if someone's interested in the credentials, they can purchase those at nscedorg. The other thing is for Snowboot Soiree. If someone's really interested and wants to support the NSCD and come out to the Snowboot Soiree, they can also purchase tickets online.

Okay, perfect. And then, julie, let's talk about volunteering. Yeah, how can people get?

involved. So I think most people know that the NSCD could not survive without our amazing volunteers. We have a huge core of volunteers over 500 annually that come out mainly in our ski program and our Nordic program and therapeutic course back riding, but they do serve a lot of purposes. We have a lot of different people that come out especially for the Wells Fargo Ski Cup. There's huge opportunity. It's a big event. There's over 2,500 people that come in for this event. So we need we're a small staff, so we definitely need support.

So people that are interested in volunteering for Wells Fargo Ski Cup they also can get credentials by volunteering a shift they can reach out to us at info at nscdorg to let us know that they're interested in volunteering and Kelly from our office will get in touch with them, get them all signed up in the right place. We've got 50-50 raffle ticket sellers. We've got set up and breakdown. We have people helping to support the food, everything else. So lots of places, registration. They can help. And then those that really want to get more involved in volunteering. We're not really taking new volunteers for this ski season right now because we're trying to get everyone trained but usually it's in the fall and that's where they get signed up. They get in our system, get signed up and you go through the training so that we can provide a really great ski day for our participants with a disability.

So I would encourage people to support the NSCD. We are so lucky to have this as part of our community and, Julie, you, your staff, your volunteers are just. I don't know what we would do without you.

Oh well, thank you. And you know, it is wonderful to be in a community that really supports people with disabilities and it shows through so much in Grand County everywhere that people are so supportive not only of the NSCD but just just to people with disabilities in general, and that means a lot. So so we're happy to be part of the community.

Great. Well, julie, thank you so much for your time today. You've got some two great events coming up. Yeah, lots of work to do, so stay warm and we will talk soon. We're going to talk about the summer event that you have coming up.

That will be good. Then we're talking wine, one of my favorite topics. Oh, that's perfect, thanks so much Take care.