Local heroes deserve praise for offering opportunities to kids

Out & About, by Howard Delo

About a month ago, Casey Ressler wrote an article entitled "A Shot in the Dark" headlining the Valley Life section of the Sunday paper. In that article, he described how Fletcher's Archery was participating in the Mat-Su School District's Adaptive Physical Education Program, which provides interesting and challenging phys-ed opportunities to the physically impaired students in the district.

I was there during the interviews and watched both Carole Bottom and Tommy Class shooting their bows and breaking balloons with their well-placed arrows. I met and spoke with both Jacob Snedeker and Mary Parrish from the Mat-Su School District and watched as Vikki Gross, the bus driver and a state-certified archery instructor, assisted Jerry Fletcher in working with and encouraging the kids.

It was clearly obvious that not only the kids were enjoying the "class." Both Fletcher and Gross were having as much fun with each successful shot as were their students. Everyone present was enjoying the kids' success.

This is the type of program that needs to be encouraged, fostered and funded within the school district's priorities. Snedeker said that about 100 students in the district have some sort of physical disability significant enough to prohibit them from participating in regular physical education classes as currently structured.

The Adaptive Physical Education Program exists to provide alternate forms of phys-ed to those students unable to participate in the "mainstream" activities of a physical education class.

On a related note, Ron's Riverboat Service, located at Susitna Landing, Mile 82.5 Parks Highway, for the past six years has sponsored an annual weekend camping and silver salmon fishing excursion in cooperation with Challenge Alaska. Usually about 15 to 20 wheelchair-users or otherwise physically disabled folks spend the first weekend of August at Susitna Landing as Ron and Marilyn Wilson's personal guests in the campground.

Wilson has three other riverboat guides: Dave Hunt of Alaska Gone Fishing, Rick Christiansen of Miracle Wilderness Charters, and Blaine Miller of Alaska Dreamcatchers, who assist him in taking the Challenge Alaska folks out for what is a riverboat fishing trip of a lifetime for many of the participants.

Wilson and the other guides make every effort to provide the folks the opportunity to catch fish and take great personal satisfaction with each fish successfully landed. These professionally guided riverboat-fishing trips are part of the donated weekend activities.

Alaska Winter Excursions, a winter snowmachine touring business Wilson owns, is also sponsoring a one-day winter fun day for physically disabled folks at Susitna Landing this coming February 22. Challenge Alaska is again the cooperating partner and the participants can expect to do a little snowmachining and other outdoor activities.

I think Fletcher's Archery and Ron's Riverboat Service, along with the other riverboat guiding services, should be recognized and applauded for their support and interaction with the physically challenged folks from our area. I know both Fletcher and Wilson derive a deep personal satisfaction from helping these folks accomplish things that most of us take for granted.

The people operating Challenge Alaska also deserve recognition for offering a program of outdoor activities designed specifically to accommodate our physically disabled friends and neighbors.

If you have a sports-oriented business or outdoor-oriented service that can accommodate folks with some level of physical disability, or just want to donate funding, I would encourage you to call Jacob Snedeker with the Mat-Su Adaptive Physical Education Program and discuss the possible opportunities. Snedeker's office phone number is 761-1523.

I would also suggest that you contact the school district and request that this program's funding be increased. More dollars would assure more and better programs are available to the students. Snedeker commented that he would consider his job complete when all the valley's physically challenged students could become a part of the "mainstream" phys-ed program. Maybe the "mainstream" program needs to adapt to all the students.

With adequate funding, private sector cooperation, and a dedicated effort by the school district, all the district's students could benefit from such an innovative physical education program.

Howard Delo is a retired fisheries biologist living in Big Lake. Send your comments and ideas to editor@frontiersman.com, or call (907) 352-2268 and leave a message for Howard.