LAKESIDE — A group of athletes is finishing up a summer full of community service in the Flathead Valley. Powdered Soul is a unique program that helps athletes participate in winter sports through scholarships.
“We live in a winter sports community, and most of those sports are not school-sponsored sports, and because they aren't school-sponsored, you see these rising costs and those become a barrier,” said Powdered Soul Board of Directors President for Powdered Soul Madeline Williams.
Powdered Soul has been giving athletes the chance to participate in costly winter extracurriculars such as ski racing, freestyle, freeride, Nordic skiing and hockey, through their youth scholarship program since 2014.
“And these are lifelong sports and so being able to let them continue in these sports keeps them engaged for life, but also, with our program keeps them as people who are going to continue to give back to their community,” said Williams.
Athletes volunteer at other nonprofits across the valley throughout the summer... and the more they volunteer, the bigger the scholarship they receive.
“Well, for the most part, a lot of scholarship programs, we feel like they're based on merit. So we wanted to have younger youth participants like 11, 12, 13-year-olds, and you know, they might not always be able to articulate why they're deserving of such a scholarship. So being able to give back to their community and the community that supports them is really important to us,” said Williams.
In 2023, Powdered Soul had 18 participants who achieved 565 volunteer hours and received a total of over $9,000 in scholarship funds.
“I think the understanding of it's a privilege to be able to do that sport, and that not everyone gets that opportunity, and that we were working hard to be able to do that. It made us harder workers and take more advantage of our hill time, because we, like, understood that it's not like, Oh, we're just get to do this. It's an opportunity and we're working for that. So we had, like, definitely, the people working for it were harder workers,” said former Powdered Soul participant Raiya McCutcheon.
All the scholarship funds that the athletes work to receive are made available through donations from the community. They hold fundraising events like Bike for a Cause at Legacy Bike Park and accept community donations.
“Our founder and myself come from ski racing background, both coaching and as athletes, and have just seen how inaccessible these sports have become because of financial barriers. And we wanted to create a program to help give back to our community, but also allow for these youth participants to continue to engage in these activities. And so our motto is to pursue your passion. So we're helping these athletes continue pursuing their passion,” said Williams.
