REI Exec nominated to head Dept. of Interior

President Obama has nominated REI Chief Exec Sally Jewell as the next head of the Department of Interior. She’s the first woman named to his second-term cabinet, and a well-known name here in the Northwest. In her work at REI, she’s lead several conservation initiatives and is a long-time advocate for environmental causes. She also serves on the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust and is a Regent for the University of Washington. Here’s to having the Northwest well-represented on the national stage – we wish her well in her Senate confirmation hearings.

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Barreda and Unlimbited are working with Vets-Help to get wounded veterans on the slopes. Her program helps to get these soldiers equipment, training, and lift tickets so they can enjoy life and sport on the mountain. The program helps them have the same realization that she did when first strapped to a mono ski, that she could do something she never thought possible. After much collaboration, they landed on a design that would be capable of handling the most aggressive of mono skiers. This is the first of a new series of products being commissioned with Vets-Help and Unlimbited.

Vets-Help is working with various partners to expand the organization’s adaptive sports programs, enabling traumatically injured veterans and other disabled people to work through their disability to participate in sports supervised by specially trained teachers. The organization fosters industry partnerships to facilitate participation in sports like car racing, golf, winter sports including downhill skiing, and various water sports.

Vets-Help was created by a disabled vet who understands and actively works to meet the transitional needs of post-combat veterans. The group fosters understanding, mentoring, friendship and rehabilitation through competitive sports for active duty members, veterans, and their families.

The Vets Help programs serve as a different type of therapy, where veterans and families can work together to “come home” by dealing with, and moving past, combat stress and injury.

Pictured below:

For more information visit www.snevamfg.com, www.unlimbited.com, and http://www.vets-help.org. For more information, please contact: TJ Sneva/Sneva Mfg. Skis & Snowboards tj@snevamfg.com 317.496.8935

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: ‘What are you doing for others?’

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President Elect Obama has called for the upcoming Martin Luther King Jr. holiday to be a day of service for Americans. This is a great idea. If you are an outdoor nut you are probably no stranger to service projects, clearing trails, picking up garbage and such. But you can’t do much of that around here in January. The Obama folks have put together a great website, www.usaservice.org, where people can search for and list service projects for 1/19/09 and beyond, but as of this morning only to projects were listed for the Spokane area. I’m looking for one. Any suggestions?

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