middbrief Brush Foundation announces $35k grant

Author: Anthony Adragna

The Kelly Brush Ski Foundation announced the launch of its national ski race safety program with $35,000 in grants to ski clubs across the nation on Feb. 14.

Forty grants, ranging from $250 to $2,000 were given to ski clubs varying in location from Alaska to Vermont. The grants were earmarked to help purchase specialized netting designed to promote safety on racing courses and individual gear for racers like back protectors.

Some of the ski clubs that received the grants include the: Mount Mansfield Ski Club in Stowe, Vt., Vail Ski Club in Vail, Colo., and Squaw Valley Ski Team in Olympic Valley, Calif.

Brush, a senior at the College, told the Burlington Free Press that the grants went directly towards achieving the mission of her foundation.

"Promoting ski racing safety is at the heart of the Kelly Brush Foundation's mission," she said. "By going directly to the sport's ground level - the clubs where young athletes come up - these grants raise awareness about the importance of safety and SCI prevention in ski racing and give clubs the resources to make improvements."

Brush sustained a severe spinal cord injury while racing as a member of the Middlebury Alpine ski team in 2006. At the Williams College Winter Carnival, she was catapulted off the course and struck a lift tower stanchion while falling.

The accident displaced and badly bruised her spinal cord, leaving her currently unable to walk.

Later that year, Brush started the foundation with friends and family. Her foundation lists as its goals: advocating for ski race safety, supporting research to treat and cure paralysis due to traumatic spinal cord injury, improving the quality of life for individuals living with SCI by purchasing adaptive athletic equipment for those with financial limitations and supporting the U.S. Disabled Ski Team.