Fewer Kids Would Have Access to Skiing Without Support from Partners Like Rossignol

Rossignol announced this week that the company is now a formal supporter and partner of the Share Winter Foundation. The move is a key part of implementing Rossignol’s Respect program, an initiative by the company to increase its role in creating positive change for both social and environmental issues related to winter sports.

The Share Winter Foundation is a non-profit organization that provides grants to organizations making skiing and snowboarding more accessible to those in the mountain and urban communities who would not otherwise have the chance to experience the freedom of sliding on snow. In 2020, the Share Winter Foundation worked with 248 schools and 61 ski areas across the USA and helped more than 45,000 kids get outside and on snow.

“Improving the lives, health, and fitness of youth through winter sports while creating a more diverse, inclusive, and welcoming community is Share Winter’s mission,” says Nick Castagnoli, the North American Brand Marketing Director for Rossignol, in a press release. “These goals couldn’t align more seamlessly with our own. Today’s kids are tomorrow’s life-long participants. Taking concrete actions that will expose more children to skiing and riding while creating a more welcoming, accessible, and diverse sport is critical to the long-term health of our industry.”

The programs that Share Winter Foundation supports include non-profits, schools, rec centers, non-profit ski areas, and ski clubs. After these organizations apply for a grant, they are vetted by the Share Winter Foundation and then enabled to provide ski and snowboard programming to diverse groups of young people under the age of 18.

Check out three recipients of Share Winter Foundation’s Grants in 2020:

• Inner-City Kids Hit the Michigan Slopes Thanks to An Innovative After-School Program

• Generations of Nevadans Are Lifelong Skiers Thanks To This Non-Profit

• Kids With No Access to Skiing Can Now Find it At This Tiny New Hampshire Hill

Rossignol’s support of the Share Winter Foundation will be a critical component of the non-profit’s goal of reaching 100,000 youths through its programs and actions by 2028.

“Share Winter has quickly positioned itself as a leading organization in terms of growing participation and diversity in snow sports,” says Rossignol North America’s president Francois Goulet in a press release. “Their mission is one every brand, resort, and retailer in our industry can get behind. We’re grateful to Share Winter for the work they are doing and for the opportunity to work alongside them to help break down barriers and create the pipelines that will support and inspire the next generation of skiers and riders.”

Learn more about the Share Winter Foundation: This Community Organization Needs Your Help to Diversify Skiing

Check out Rossignol’s commitment to sustainability: Waste Not, Want Not