SNOW-CAMP IN 2022

The NSSA proudly support the work of Snow Camp who have been turning young lives around with the power of snowsports since 2003. With the charities 20th anniversary year in 2023, and over 1000 young people being impacted by their work year-on-year, there’s never been a better time to get involved, take on a challenge, fundraise or support Snow Camp’s life-changing work with young people across the UK. To find out more visit snowcamp.org.uk, or get in touch with Dan Keeley at dan.k@snow-camp.org.uk who’ll be very pleased to hear from you.

TURNING YOUNG LIVES AROUND WITH THE POWER OF SNOWSPORTS

By using a unique combination of skiing, snowboarding, life-skills training, qualifications and vocational opportunities, Snow-Camp engage youngpeople-at-risk by offering an alternative path away from the inner-city estates and the issues that may be facing them on a daily basis, to new horizons and positive opportunities which simply wouldn’t be available to them otherwise.

Coming back strongly from the pause which we all experienced with Covid, we spoke to Dan Keely from SnowCamp.

Firstly Dan, how did you get involved with Snow-Camp?

With a background in sports development, a passion for social impact and having qualified as a BASI Level 2 Ski Instructor in 2011, I jumped at the chance of joining the Snow-Camp team in early 2012 as the Snowsports Community Manager.

I remember on day 1 thinking about the impact the mountains had on me when I was lucky enough to go on my first school ski trip, and now having the opportunity to channel my professional experience towards offering this opportunity to those less fortunate than I was, just with 10x the impact given the background of so many of the young people we work with!

What does the team look like today?

We have an amazing & dedicated team working tirelessly behind the scenes at Snow-Camp; both from our HQ in Brighton and in each of the regions we’re running our programmes across the UK. We’ve also grown our Apprenticeship programme over recent years, helping us to deliver our programmes and inspire the next generation of young people coming through our programmes. It’s a privilege to be a part of.

How has Snow-Camp grown to where it is today as an award-winning & nationally recognised youth charity.

For the first 10 years of Snow-Camp we were solely working with young people from London. That was until we received & responded to the call to support young people in Scotland which kick-started our ‘5NOW’ national expansion to establish our programmes today in 6 UK regions by and now comes the next chapter for all the team as we work with over 1000 young people each year, with more young people than ever before completing the full Snow-Camp journey culminating with a life-changing week in the mountains and gaining a Snowsport England or Snowsport Scotland Level 1 Instructor or Assistant qualification.

You’ve prided yourself on being integral to the snowsports industry from the beginning. Tell us about the partnership with the National Schools Snowsports Association.

Knowing we provide opportunities for young people that would otherwise never get the opportunity to experience snowsports and the mountain environment has always been something we’ve celebrated in collaboration with the governing bodies and all corners of the snowsports industry. Our partnership with the NSSA has been evolving year-on-year, which for us offers the perfect synergy as we’re both so passionate about supporting young people from all demographics with the power of snowsports. It’s this season where we’re taking things to new heights by getting our young people involved with the UK & overseas racing events wherever possible whist constantly evolving our partnership through other fundraising initiatives and raising awareness of each other’s work.

How can the NSSA community support Snow-Camp looking ahead to 2022/23?

We would love to hear from any coach, teacher, parent, pupil or club would like to fundraise for Snow-Camp or discuss a new charity partnership!

Every £100 raised for Snow-Camp pays for one new young person to join us on our 2-day beginner First Tracks programme. Every £500 raised enables one young person to experiences the mountains for the first time on our Excel programmes. Every £2000 paying for a full Snow-Camp Bursary – sponsoring one young person through the full life-changing Snow-Camp journey.

Over the past few years we’ve had some amazing supporters, school groups and ski clubs taking on a whole variety of fundraising challenges & events – one of our

favourite still being a school group who skied continuous laps of a dedicated ski slope one afternoon on their annual ski trip entirely in fancy dress. In this particular case there were 65 pupils rocking their onesies on the snow who collectively raised over £850 towards our work.

Whatever the challenge or whichever way the NSSA community want to get involved with Snow-Camp as we look towards the next 15 years of turning young lives around, we want to hear from you!

To get involved, please contact Dan directly by emailing dan.k@snow-camp.org.uk or by calling 01273 241383 or 07803 876455. To find out more about Snow-Camp, visit www.snow-camp.org.uk.