Maine Winter Sports Center: So much more than winter, skiing, and Aroostook

The Maine Winter Sports Center has trained local, national and international champion skiers. It has become a regular host for world class biathlon championships in Fort Kent and Presque Isle. It has inspired loyal sponsors and armies of local volunteers.
But the future of the center that has put Maine on the world stage of biathlon competition rests in its broader mission.
The deep and enduring impact of the Maine Winter Sports Center on the state of Maine happens day to day, year to year. Despite its name, MWSC is about more than winter, more than skiing and more than northern Maine. Its youth development programs are statewide, year-round and include hiking, canoeing, kayaking and other sports, as well as skiing.
The center’s less-publicized Healthy Hometowns Program reaches young people in 140 Maine communities, from Eliot to Fort Kent and from Greenville to Matinicus Island. And the effects are not only physical.
“The focus is on a sustainable lifestyle,” says Andy Shepard, MWSC co-founder and president. “Youth have become separated from the outdoors, removed from outdoor skills. The impact is not only on health but on future advocacy for outdoor resources,” he said, explaining that outdoor experiences and skills provide motivation to become advocates.
Russell Currier of Stockholm became a national champion in both cross-country skiing and biathlon, but that was not his dream in 1999 when he first participated in the Healthy Hometowns Program.
“The goal was just to see kids getting out on their own. And it worked,” Currier wrote, in a letter describing his experience. “With health risks for kids at an all-time high in the U.S., wouldn’t it be nice if there were a professional program combating this problem. This is what we have been doing since the beginning.”
But as years passed, a dream evolved. It was an up and down road, but Currier persisted, worked hard and became the only Maine native to compete in the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
“It’s all about challenge. We want to challenge Maine youth and help them develop the skills to work through challenges effectively,” Shepard said, stressing the life-long effect of knowing how to overcome obstacles. “Those skills are the most valuable for success. It’s not about IQ or income. It’s a function of grit.”
Like its athletes, the MWSC has been acclaimed nationally and internationally for its youth development programming. The International Ski Federation named Healthy Hometowns one of the top two such programs in the world in 2010. And in 2009, the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association cited the program as the best in the country.
But also like its athletes, the Maine Winter Sports Center is working to overcome a major challenge. In February the organization learned that its primary source of funding will cease April 30.
“The Libra Foundation has been a remarkable partner for 15 years,” Shepard said in a news release. “The time has come for Libra to focus on other initiatives around the state and for MWSC to define a new funding model for our programming.”
With a goal of $1.1 million to secure operation for the next year, the center received a significant boost and yet another challenge. Presque Isle native Mary Barton Smith donated $100,000 and promised another $400,000 if MWSC could match that gift before April 30.
As of April 25, $225,000 had been raised in response to the challenge. With Smith’s match, long-term sponsorships and lease agreements, a total of $890,000 had been secured, enough to start the 2014-2015 season but not enough to complete it.
“While this is a critical first step, it is just that — a first step,” Shepard said. “Mary is hoping this gift will encourage the entire state of Maine to embrace the importance of what we do and to understand that our future success will depend on a lot of helping hands.”
Facing the task of raising $1.1 million annually, MWSC has consolidated operations and reorganized with a new board of trustees made up of leaders from across the state. It has given ski areas in Rumford and Mars Hill to the non-profit, volunteer boards running them, and will move MWSC offices from Caribou to the Nordic Heritage Center in Presque Isle.
“I am excited and honored by the strength of this new board,” Shepard said, in announcing May 1 as the date for a re-launch.
He is also excited about new initiatives generated by staff members that are creating opportunities for the future.
Intrigued by an article about Maine’s outer islands in the Island Institute’s Island Journal, Healthy Hometowns Coach Lauren Jacobs contacted the coordinator of the Teaching and Learning Collaborative for six islands off the Maine coast. As a result, students on Matinicus, Monhegan, Isle au Haut, Cliff, Islesboro and Frenchboro now join her by video for regular morning exercise programs in their one- and two-room island schools.
“This is an example of the way we approach our work with different communities,” Jacobs said. “We look at the specific assets, challenges, and needs of every town and make a plan to meet those needs. The one-room island schools are a particularly unique manifestation of that!”
“Lauren exemplifies the kind of commitment, dedication and entrepreneurial spirit of our staff,” Shepard said. “The quality and impact of our programs reflect that.”
For more information visit www.mainewsc.org.
Kathryn Olmstead is a
former University of Maine associate dean and associate professor of journalism living in Westmanland, where she publishes the quarterly magazine Echoes. This column appeared April 25 as her regular bi-weekly column in the Bangor Daily News.