On Friday, the Wings for Val Foundation organized a service day on the slopes for Gold Star family members from the Navy’s District of Washington Gold Star Program. We have had a longstanding relationship with Two Top Adaptive Sports Foundation, an organization that provides adaptive skiing and snowboarding programs for disabled individuals and wounded veterans at Whitetail Ski Resort. Bill & Stacey from Two Top helped us host an incredibly successful event that connected 12 Gold Star family members with about 15 wounded warriors from Walter Reed Medical Center. Everyone had a great time out on the slopes and enjoying a big group lunch.

This was also Private Delaney’s (our new adopted dog from Warrior Canine Connection) first official work day. Delaney enjoyed the crowd and was a big hit at Whitetail with all the warriors and the children.

The smiles at the end of the day were an indication of the event’s success — participants learned how to ski and/or how to help wounded veterans how to ski, and fellow Gold Star family members connected with one another through acts of service and in memory of their fallen family members. We had many people sign up to continue volunteering with Two Top at Whitetail and we encourage everyone to consider donating to our Wings for Val team for the upcoming fundraiser event at the end of February in support of Two Top’s mission.

Thank you to everyone who made this event possible and to Amy Looney from the Travis Manion Foundation for supporting the event as well. We loved this opportunity to apply Val’s motto of “ADAPT AND OVERCOME!”