Ski Organization Celebrates 25 Years Of Helping Children And Families
Jane-A-thon gearing up to raise funds for nonprofit, Invest In Kids with a day of skiing with family and friends
Photos courtesy of Invest in Kids | Friends gather at Mary Jane Ski Resort for a day of skiing, raising money and having fun for Invest in Kids.
It started as a simple goal: Invite friends and family to the mountain, ski as many bumps as possible, and raise money for Colorado nonprofit Invest in Kids. Today, as the organization celebrates 25 years of bringing evidence-based programs to children and families across the state, the Jane-A-Thon is the quintessential Colorado event, with fun, family and philanthropy under one roof.
“The first year, it was about 16 friends and family members who went to Winter Park to ski bumps,” says longtime board president Eric Hilty. “We didn’t have fundraising software and we collected checks. We had bottles of water and power bars in the trunk of the car, and we raised $10,000,” says Hilty.
Investing in kids during early childhood development strengthens families and communities.
Today, the Jane-A-Thon has 440 participants. It is a bump competition for some, a day of team building for corporate sponsors, a day of skiing with family and friends for others and, of course, a successful fundraiser, raising $343,000 last year for the programs run by the organization.
The work of Invest in Kids has always been rock solid—using evidence-based programs to ensure that every Colorado child has a strong start in life. Those early funds from the Jane-A-Thon were used to bring its first program, the Nurse-Family Partnership, a nurse home visitation service for first-time parents experiencing poverty, to Colorado. Since 1998, Invest in Kids has served nearly 160,000 children and families across the state. President and CEO Lisa Hill says, “Our programs are in every county in Colorado and the money raised helps us to better serve the needs of all Coloradans.” She says the goal is to bring these programs to as many families as possible and to make the largest positive difference for Colorado children.
Skiers of all ages are invited to participate in a number of events during Jane-A-Thon
This year, the Jane-A-Thon will be held on March 1 and 2 at Mary Jane Mountain in Winter Park.
Lindsey Schwartz is a national television journalist for 20/20 on ABC News and has covered crime for news magazines on all three networks, NBC, CBS and ABC News. Schwartz has three kids, two of them in college, and lives in Denver with her fiancé and two dogs.
