Chill Italy Recap

CHILL ITALIANO RECAP
After the positive experience of the second Austrian Chill program Burton Italy organised their first Italian Chill project. They teamed up with “Arche”, a non-profit organisation that provides housing and medical help for children and their families suffering from HIV, mental illnesses and social troubles. 20 kids from Arche had the chance to learn snowboarding on three consecutive Sundays in March and April.

To start with, Burton Italy had to fight some initial difficulties like finding the right resort and partners and overcoming doubts from the agency. In the end Espace de Pila, Scuola di sci di Pila, and the Resort of Pila helped bringing the kids to the mountain.

The Chill project taught the kids not only the basics of snowboarding: Getting away from the everyday was a challenge for them and the volunteers, but it proved to be positive for them to meet new friends, gain some valuable skills and first and foremost have a lot of fun
To provide for the necessary privacy, media coverage was limited to one daily newspaper (Corriere della Sera) as well as the Italian Snowboard Mag.

See attached images to get an idea what the days on the mountain were like. Big ups to Burton Italy and Silvia from Corenetwork for helping the kids make positive experiences they will never forget.

(EU) Chill Innsbruck Coverage Rolling In

Coverage on our Innsbruck Chill project keeps trickling in. Here’s four print clippings from major Tyrolean newspapers ("Krone Tirol", "Tiroler Tageszeitung", "Bezirksblatt" and "Tiroler Wirtschaft"). They all portray pretty well how much fun the kids had.

WCAX - CHILL PROGRAM AT BOLTON VALLEY

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(EU) Chill Innsbruck Finished

Last Saturday the European Chill program in Innsbruck ended with the fourth and last riding day. Afterwards, volunteers and kids gathered in a restaurant for a pasta party.

This is what Lorenz Kerer, director of the BIWAK project (one of the agencies we worked with) had to say about Chill: "Chill involves kids in sports who otherwiese would not even dream about it. After a day on the mountain our kids returned home exhausted but with big smiles on their faces. They tell positive stories of their day for hours on end. Chill makes the kids discover skills that make them feel proud. These are valuable experiences that will last long after the program has ended."

Check out this shortened version of a slideshow that was screened on the last night - and imagine lots of hugs, laughter, and smiles to go with it...

Chill program applauded by Transworld Business

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Burton Innsbruck Launched Second Chill Program

Yours truly European PR department coordinated the launch of the second Chill program in Innsbruck. Chill again teamed up with the resort of Serfaus (an 1.5 hours drive from Ibk) to bring on four consecutive Saturdays 40 kids aged 14 to 19 to the slopes. Burton, the Komperdellbahn Serfaus, the ski school Serfaus, Patscheider Sport+Mode, and M-Preis/Baguette provide everything for free: Lift passes, lessons, transport, equipment and food.

For the selection of the kids we cooperated with three local social projects: “Biwak”, an assisted living community for unattended minor refugees and “Juwog Telfs”, an assisted living community, both SOS-Kinderdorf institutions, and “Jugendwohnstart”, assisted living for minors.

These pictures were taken on the first Chill day this past Saturday. The response from the kids as well as the chaperones from the agencies has already been very positive!

Chill Days Innsbruck/Serfaus 2009
21.02.2009
28.02.2009
07.03.2009
14.03.2009

Chill coverage on MSNBC.com

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SNOWBOARD MAG - LUIS GUZMAN DISCUSSES BURTON, CHILL AND HIS FRIENDSHIP WITH JAKE

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THE CHILL FOUNDATION HOSTED ITS THIRD ANNUAL WEST COAST CHARITY GOLF TOURNAMENT AND FUNDRAISER

As this year’s epic winter season has slowly come to an end, more than 100 industry friends and athletes set aside their boards for the day and enjoyed a day off in the sun and had the chance to support a deserving cause. On April 30, the Chill Foundation hosted its third annual west coast charity golf tournament at the Monarch Beach Resort in Dana Point, California. This year’s event brought out some of the industry’s best and raised over $25,000 for Chill’s North American learn to ride snowboard, surf and skate programs for under-served youth.

Chill supporters, including Burton’s Keir Dillon and Dave Downing, enjoyed an afternoon of golf, fish tacos, beer and mojitos. The event was topped off with an evening dinner at Monarch Beach’s Club 19 and an awards ceremony for the winners of the tournament. The winning foursome went to the Kicker Headphones crew: Paul Becker, Thomas Freshley, Tim Gertz and John Lee, with the Add-On Computer team in a close second. Other awards went to the following contest winners: Closest to the Pin #1: Brent Loomis; Closest to the Pin #2 Paul Becker; Longest Drive: CJ Oliveras (Fuel TV).

Thank you to our title sponsor Transworld Snowboarding and hole sponsors Burton, Channel Islands, ANON, R.E.D., Analog, Gravis, The Program, Wahoo’s Fish Tacos, Future Snowboarding, Boost Mobile, Fuel TV, Moet Hennessey - 10 Cane Rum, New Era, Mountain High, SoBe, Best Western Laguna Brisas, Anheuser Busch, Mt. High and Trafalgar Tours.