{"id":2455225,"date":"2020-03-02T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-02T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=321876"},"modified":"2020-03-02T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-03-02T07:00:00","slug":"a-week-of-shine-aspen-foundation-hosts-19th-winter-games-to-support-empower-kids-battling-cancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/a-week-of-shine-aspen-foundation-hosts-19th-winter-games-to-support-empower-kids-battling-cancer\/","title":{"rendered":"A week of shine: Aspen foundation hosts 19th winter games to support, empower kids battling cancer"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Cole Chavez celebrates while skiing at Buttermilk as part of the Shining Stars 2020 Winter Games on Saturday, Feb. 29, 2020.<\/strong>
Courtesy photo\/Shining Stars Foundation<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

In an Inn at Aspen meeting room Sunday, four teens sat at a large, round table, ate their lunches and went over the highlights of their morning at Buttermilk Ski Area.<\/p>\n

The two boys said they enjoyed breakfast at the inn. The two girls agreed and talked about how nice and helpful their instructors were. All four Shining Stars emphasized how much they\u2019d loved learning to ski at Buttermilk so far and how easy it\u2019d been to connect with both their peers and the adults helping out with the 2020 Aspen Winter Games, an annual weeklong series of winter activities for kids experiencing cancer or other life-threatening illnesses.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think after being sick and feeling weak, it shows us we\u2019re still strong enough to ski down a mountain,\u201d said Serenity Gibney, 16.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just a bunch of kids having fun, that\u2019s all it is and what it\u2019s all about,\u201d added Jorge Quinones, 17.<\/p>\n

For the past 19 years, dozens of kids from across the country have gathered at the Inn at Aspen for the Shining Stars Foundation\u2019s weeklong winter program, which features everything from adaptive skiing, snowboarding and snowmobiling, to milkshake bars, a talent night and downhill race day \u2014 all free of charge for the young adults and their families.<\/p>\n

The Aspen-Snowmass foundation has offered a variety of long-term, year-round recreational and social programs in Colorado for its Shining Stars fighting pediatric cancer or other life threatening illnesses and their families since 2001, according to the Shining Stars website.<\/p>\n

However, the Aspen Winter Games is one of the foundation\u2019s biggest and most expensive programs. This year, 65 Shining Stars and roughly 200 foundation staff, medical personnel, volunteers, adaptive ski and snowboard instructors and family members will be in Aspen for a week of winter activities that cost roughly $325,000 to put on and require a lot of local support, or \u201cAspen magic,\u201d White said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe program keeps growing every year and the community is always so supportive,\u201d said Rosemary White, marketing and community relations director for the Shining Stars Foundation. \u201cThere are so many different groups who help out. \u2026 Putting it together part by part makes the whole thing possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

As signs welcomed the Shining Stars and festive balloons floated overhead in almost every area of the Inn at Aspen on Sunday, White talked with the Basalt Lions Club members heading lunch that afternoon and volunteers mingling with Shining Stars in a meeting room down the hall, showing off the different parts and moving pieces of the annual winter games program.<\/p>\n

One of those pieces is the adaptive skiing and snowboarding tent or \u201clocker room\u201d with a host of equipment that helps make recreation on the mountain possible for Shining Stars of all abilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery piece of equipment here is tailored to help teach every student,\u201d said Michael Fagan, lead adaptive coordinator of the Shining Stars winter games. \u201cIt introduces a lot of kids to a sport they never would have done otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fagan, who has been a part of the Shining Stars winter games for more than a decade, said his goal is to get to know each student\u2019s experience and comfort levels, acquire the gear they need to succeed and get them excited to go out on the mountain.<\/p>\n

With sit skis, ski bikes, \u201ctrombone bras\u201d that help an instructor guide a student with their turns as they stand ski, and a multitude of other new and improved equipment each year, Fagan hopes to give every Shining Star a chance to experience what it\u2019s like to ski or snowboard down a snowy slope.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just something that helps me give back to the kids and to society,\u201d Fagan said. \u201cI\u2019ve dedicated myself to the kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another piece of the Shining Stars winter games in Aspen is the volunteer base that buddies up with the Shining Stars, skiing alongside them and getting to know them each day.<\/p>\n

For Julie Lampton, a longtime Aspen local who has been one of those buddies for the past seven years, bonding with the young adults and being a part of the annual winter games has been a life-changing experience.<\/p>\n

Lampton said she feels the week is an opportunity for kids to forget they have cancer for a little while and to be surrounded by joy and happiness, and that it\u2019s an inspirational experience for all of the local volunteers involved.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese kids know how to live life. Not only are they the best children I\u2019ve ever met, they\u2019re the best human beings I\u2019ve ever known,\u201d Lampton said Sunday. \u201cEvery year I think I can\u2019t love any more than I did the last year, and here I am only a few days in and I\u2019m head over heels.\u201d<\/p>\n

With all of these moving pieces, from volunteers to adaptive ski and snowboard experts and instructors, the Shining Stars Foundation aims to facilitate and connect each part to create an empowering and supportive experience for each child, White said.<\/p>\n

The winter games activities show the Shining Stars they can do something hard and that they aren\u2019t alone in their experiences, White said, which often has a lasting impact on their approach to their treatment and overall mental and social health. According to foundation data, 98% of participants have been greatly impacted by Shining Stars programs like the Aspen Winter Games emotionally, socially or psychologically, and 90% report a long-term positive impact from the programs five or more years later.<\/p>\n

Olivia Sergot, 18, echoed thoughts similar to White, noting that she loves getting to know all of the kids who come to Aspen for the winter games and being a part of a community who understands what their peers are going through.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven that cancer is the worst thing anyone can go through, having other kids understand what you\u2019re feeling is really powerful,\u201d Sergot explained. \u201cWe understand each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sergot, a Chicago native who was at the winter games last year as well, arrived in Aspen on Sunday morning after speaking about her experience with cancer at an event back home.<\/p>\n

She said she feels it\u2019s important to raise awareness about pediatric cancer because children are the future, so putting resources toward finding a cure to help those children should be of national importance.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people don\u2019t understand how much cancer affects kids, so that\u2019s why I think we need to continue to raise awareness,\u201d Sergot said, noting that some of this outreach goes on at Shining Stars through interactions with local adult and student volunteers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so awesome we can all come together like this and is so special to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

mvincent@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cole Chavez celebrates while skiing at Buttermilk as part of the Shining Stars 2020 Winter Games on Saturday, Feb. 29, 2020.Courtesy photo\/Shining Stars Foundation In an Inn at Aspen meeting room Sunday, four teens sat at a large, round table, ate their lunches and went over the highlights of their morning at Buttermilk Ski Area. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2455225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-17 00:39:41","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2455225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2455225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2455225\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2455225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2455225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2455225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}