Nonprofit raises money for outdoor activities
Common Ground’s first-ever March for Snow Benefit offered visitors fire pits with s’mores, catering by Café Sabor and a live band. The nonprofit organization held the benefit at its office Saturday night. USU students were there as volunteers to help with the event.
Common Ground is a local organization that aims to provide outdoor recreational opportunities of all kinds for persons with disabilities.
“Someone that has a disability might not otherwise be able to go out and ski all day, but with Common Ground, their adaptive equipment, it makes that possible,” said Kaitlin Eyre, a Common Ground volunteer and a senior majoring in Recreation Resource Management at USU.
Founded in 1993, the program is supported through grants, individual donations, program fees, and fundraisers similar to the March for Snow Benefit.
Jami Dickerson, Common Ground special events coordinator, said March for Snow was a celebration as well as a benefit.
“Our ski program this year has done awesome,” Dickerson said. “There have been a lot of people really enjoying it, and so I think this (benefit) is kind of just to celebrate winter here in Cache Valley. It’s fun to go out and have some live music and food if it’s for a good cause.”
Dickerson said all earnings from March for Snow will pay for the repair and purchasing of new winter recreational equipment for persons with disabilities.
For $15-20, participants could eat and hear local band Wasatch Back play requests by audience members, and for $1, participants could enter their names into a raffle for prizes donated by businesses in the community.
Eyre said she has been volunteering with Common Ground for a semester.
“As a volunteer, we try to help staff events like this one. They need people to sell raffle tickets and help educate other people about what Common Ground is,” Eyre said.
Some activities offered to Common Ground participants include cycling, trips to national parks, alpine skiing, river rafting and rock climbing. All of the organization’s activities are made possible for the disabled through the use of adapted and specialized equipment, paid for in large part by donations.
Eyre said she has loved every minute of her time volunteering at Common Ground.
“Since my major is recreation, I really wanted to try to do something outside,” she said. “When I heard about Common Ground, I was like, ‘That’s a perfect fit!’ It’s right up my alley in terms of things I’m good at doing.”
The things Eyre has done include manning a booth at the Banff Film Festival, updating Common Ground’s blog and using her Beaver Mountain season pass to act as a bulldogger most Saturdays, skiing in front of people to keep them safe, she said.
Quinn Larson, a junior majoring in environmental studies at USU, also volunteers for Common Ground, and has done so for three months. He said he and Eyre act as representatives to the College of Natural Resources in an attempt to get more people in their college volunteering, and Common Ground is willing to take more volunteers.
“They’re really excited to have anyone, especially students,” he said.
Dickerson said with four staff members, Common Ground relies heavily on volunteer work.
“Volunteers are our lifeline. We really rely on the community and Utah State community to come and volunteer and help us with the activities,” she said.
Eyre said Common Ground works very well with student schedules, and if more volunteers are available, more participants can benefit from the organization’s services.
“I think this organization is a perfect one to get involved with, because a lot of students already go out into the canyon and go snowshoeing, or they already go out and hike, or they already go out and ski,” Eyre said. “Why not go out and do those things and not just have fun, but also have the chance to help people?” she said.
Eyre said volunteering is as simple as going online and looking at Common Ground’s events calendar as well as signing up to receive volunteer emails with schedules and sign up sheets for different activities that occur throughout the year.
Larson and Eyre agreed that the activities Common Ground hosts for persons with disabilities are invaluable and exciting to help with.
“Just because you might not have a traditional skill set like everyone else has, I don’t think that should be a limitation,” Larson said. “I’m really glad that there’s an organization like this that lets people get outside and get active and enjoy the great outdoors.”
One event Common Ground holds is an online, golf-themed fund drive in May where donors get a chance to win golf equipment. The organization also holds a “Reach for the Stars” gala and silent auction in the fall, Dickerson said.
For St. Patrick’s Day, there will be a free hour of ice skating for the public hosted by Common Ground and other sponsors.
Eyre said serving others through Common Ground is a confidence booster.
“It’s great to see people light up when they actually accomplish something that they didn’t think they’d be able to do otherwise,” she said.
– ariwrees@gmail.com