Old Bill's 2020: A Coombs Mentor Who Goes Above and Beyond
“What do you guys want to do next week?” Sophia Schwartz asks Kelly (15) and Randy (13), siblings and Coombs participants, after their morning bike ride. Sophia has been a Coombs Mentor in the Powder Pals Program for the past two winters, skiing once a week at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort with groups of middle schoolers. Each week this summer, Sophia meets up with 2-4 Coombs kids to spend a few hours outside hiking, biking, or chatting about life.
“This summer, the challenges around the pandemic highlighted to me how important access to the outdoors is in creating space to safely spend time together,” Sophia says. This spring, she decided to reach out to some of the kids she’d skied with to set up some small group activities they could safely participate in while social distancing. The group has hiked around Snow King and Josie’s Ridge, biked out to the Elk Refuge, and spent time swimming at R Park.
“Hiking gave our group a balance between escaping our hardships to have fun, and also working through challenges together to build resilience”
“It’s fun because we get to try new things every week,” says Kelly (15) who has been enthusiastic about the opportunities to get outside and bring her family along. Kelly and her brother Randy have been skiing with Coombs for the past five years, and weren't sure what they were going to do this summer. Sophia says their activities are pretty informal - just like friends hanging out - which allows them to do whatever the kids are interested in.
“Hiking gave our group a balance between escaping our hardships to have fun, and also working through challenges together to build resilience,” Sophia says.
An Old Bill's gift to Coombs Outdoors will support the Be REAL Mentoring Program which helps create and foster strong mentoring relationships within our community.
