Dear US Ski Community,
Each year, the Drive for 25 starts with a simple, but profound idea; that a community crossing a continent can pull together to support its best ideals and determine the brightest version of its own future.
At the end of this year’s Drive for 25, we’re taken over by gratitude by the commitment to that idea. With $116,810 raised as of Thursday morning from 1226 mail-in and online donations, we’ve gone beyond the finish line, and kept on kicking into the winter ahead. The fundraising push from Monday through the end of Tuesday also unlocked a matching grant of $10,000, which will add to the raised total to put over $125,000 towards funding our work at the National Nordic Foundation this season and beyond.
When this total is combined with an NNF Board of Directors Drive that raised an additional $100,000 this year, we’re grateful that the ski community has powered us towards fully funding our Pillar Projects, fielding the most talented developing American athletes no matter their background under the banner of Team USA at the World Cup, Junior World Ski Championships, U18 Nordic Nation’s Cup, OPA Cup, and beyond. The D25 success also allows us to continue to expand our development programming elsewhere, funding the Trail to Gold Coaching Grant for women coaches from across the country to join the US Ski Team on the World Cup, and growing the number of athletes that our off-season training camps and trips can serve.
US Ski Team Head Coach and NNF Board Member Matt Whitcomb, who is currently on the World Cup in Europe, had this to say on the overwhelming display of generosity during the D25: “Thank you to anyone who ever gave a little or a lot to this wonderful sport in our country. Our community is clearly very strong, and there is no doubt that the excitement of this grassroots movement helped push Rosie and Jessie to the podium in the World Cup last weekend. They fared less-well in our team bowling session tonight, but I’d recommend you tune in for the races this weekend!”
At the core of NNF is a collective belief that US Skiing is capable of creating an athlete development system capable of competing against any nation on Earth. The Drive for 25 continues to offer the best distillation of what is behind that belief—thousands of skiers and supporters, working in concert for a sport and a community that they love. Thank you for being part of it.
Sincerely,
The National Nordic Foundation: Yuriy Gustev (Board Chairman), Reese Brown, Sophie Caldwell Hamilton, Joey Caterinichio, Erika Flowers, Dave Jarrett, Gus Kaeding, Laura McCabe, Thomas Pearce, Kikkan Randall, Ben Theyerl, Matt Whitcomb.
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