"Skiing is Believing" is a year-round camp that's designed to get kids into all kinds of sports.
"In the Winter and Spring we focus on a lot of snow sports, but we understand all sports have the capacity to chance childrens lives for the better," said Megan Ochs, Founder and Owner of Skiing is Believing. We pick a lot of seasonal sports and try to pick ones that have high economic barriers to entry."
The Summer sessions are now in full swing.
"The foundation of our program is understanding that kids can develop into phenomenal human beings and learn all kids of life skills through sport and movement that they can take to their careers, college, whatever they may end up doing professionally," Ochs said. "Variety is the spice of life and every day we go to a different place for a different activity."
This weeks campers have already tried their hands at golf, karate, wrestling and volleyball. One day a week is dedicated to education and community service. On Wednesday campers spent the day at Oxbow Nature Study Area in Downtown Reno, learning about the habitat there and cleaning up the park.
"I want them to have a stronger connection with nature than they came here with today," said Jessica Heitt with the Nevada Department of Wildlife. "I want them to have fun and be able to enjoy their time in the outdoors."
"Skiing is Believing" partners with local businesses and nonprofits to help campers with scholarships.
"Skiing is Believing donates a lot of spots ourselves and we work with a lot of nonprofit organizations that have access to children that might not have access to these opportunities we are trying to provide," Ochs said. "So we work through these organizations and they have grant funds, or we get sponsorships, so we're very fortunate to have the support. We're a very unique program to offer sport and community service at the same time to develop children in a multifaceted way. We've had private companies sponsor kids that go to camp and individuals who've sponsored kids that otherwise would not be able to do so."
The hope is the experiences here have a lasting impact.
"It's all about the impact and I believe sometimes you don't know right away what the kids get out of it," Ochs said. "We see the kids change if they've been with us for a period of time. They learn to deal with conflict, deal with other kids, they get frustrated because they might not be able to do something right away and they keep working at it and that determination pays off. So it can totally change their character and their attitude towards other things but so much of that we might not see for years because we don't know how that is going to impact them later in life."
There are two July camps still open, as well as an Adaptive Program for children with physical and developmental disabilities.
Camps
More information: https://www.skiingisbelieving.org/
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