Local benefit to go to Ski-Hi Institute
– A 100-mile motorcycle mini-run to benefit the SKI-HI Institute at Utah State University will be held in northern Utah Thursday, July 24, in conjunction with a cross country Charity Bike Run to Alaska.
The local mini-run begins at 3 p.m. at the Merlin Olson Park south pavilion, approximately 200 E. 100 South in Logan, and returns to the same place.
“This is a great opportunity for the community to come together and support children with sensory disabilities,” said Bess Dennison, SKI-HI Institute co-director. “The SKI-HI Institute is a world-class organization in your own back yard with a long history of doing good work for children and families in this state as well as across the United States.”
Riders can register starting at 2 p.m. at the start or online by going to www.skihi.org and clicking on “Logan Mini Run.” The riders will take off for Bear Lake, head north, go across Emigration Canyon to Preston and return to Logan for food, music and to hear some of the adventures of the Alaska riders. Music will be provided by singer-guitarist Chad Floyd, a young man who grew up south of Bear Lake and who now lives in Logan and who is blind himself. There will also be a short performance by the Polish Winds, a local group that makes harmonious music by blowing on wine bottles.
People who are not riders can help by making a pledge to one of the Alaska riders at www.skihi.org. For more information, contact the SKI-HI Institute at 435-797-5600 or visit the Web site.
Local riders will be joined by the riders who will be coming back through Logan on their return trip from Alaska to Florida. This group, led by a deaf man, Mike Tuccelli, started its ride July 3 in St. Augustine, Fla., to Alaska and back. This will be the third summer in a row that Tuccelli has led a group of individuals on this benefit ride for the SKI-HI Institute.
Tuccelli teaches American Sign Language classes at the University of Florida and also has a cochlear implant. He is a strong believer in early intervention for infants and toddlers with hearing and vision losses and has respected the work that SKI-HI has done across the country for the past 36 years.
The SKI-HI Institute is an internationally known nonprofit organization at USU that enhances the lives of young children with sensory disabilities and their families. Through model programs, curriculum resources and trainings developed by the SKI-HI Institute, families of young children who are deaf, blind or deafblind across the country learn how to communicate and play with their babies, manage adaptive devices and help children enter school ready to learn and communicate with others.
During the past 36 years, the work of SKI-HI has impacted the lives of over 100,000 young children with sensory impairments in all 50 states and some foreign countries. The SKI-HI Institute has also been responsible for starting five new state-wide programs for these children and their families in Utah.