WORDS: BRYANNA WOLL / PHOTOS: JON CHESTER

When I was a kid, snow-days used to be almost as exciting as Christmas. I would wake up before the sun, run to the window and look for the white covered roofs. I would bundle up in my pink snow-bibs and stay outside until the last flake had melted. The things you could do with snow seemed endless. I would be cold and wet but there were still snowmen that needed creation in my winter wonderland. I was probably 8 and had never even heard of snowboarding but that didn’t matter, I would find out soon enough. Lucky for the kids in Portland, Oregon the term snow-day has taken on a different meaning.

Started in 2004, The Snowdays Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to taking under-privileged kids snowboarding. Most trips turn out to be like giant adventures of Team Awesome. Backed by Travis Parker and Jesse Grandkoski (Airblaster), Snowdays strives to give kids a positive experience in the snow. It’s not about getting them to start carving in one day, but to show them there are fun and challenging activities that exist outside the normal school curriculum. It’s about sharing something we love with the kids and watching them get that feeling when everything connects. The main goal is that the kids will learn to take these positive feelings off the mountain and into their daily lives.

With help from numerous outwear sponsors, Snowdays is able to outfit the kids in the sickest duds around. After a giant game of dress-up, the future shredders get hooked-up with boots and a snowboard from the Timberline rental shop. Then the day kicks-off with the wildest stretching circle you could imagine. From spinning jumping jacks to one-handed donkey kicks, the kids are fully warmed-up to take on the hill. The rest of the day is spent snowboarding. Pure, no holds bar, here’s your board, let’s make magic snowboarding. With instruction from certified volunteers, the kids progress from skating to two feet in, both hands out rippin’!

But the trip isn’t always about the kids either. Just spending 5-minutes in a Windells van with them is enough to make you remember why you started snowboarding in the first place. It’s about getting out of the city, out of school and being with your friends. It’s about racing down the chair line, stopping with a face plant to the snow and still standing up laughing. It’s about making that first turn, and that first jump, and that first spin. It’s the feeling of snowboarding that Snowdays promotes. And the kids that throw it right back at us like, “Yeah, we’re down!”

Last year, Snowdays started a sister program in Alaska. They helped tweak-out at Airblaster’s Boardgames III and move from a volunteer’s basement into their very own headquarters. Snowdays is looking to go even further this year. To donate, volunteer or say “hey” check out www.snowdaysfoundation.org