Miscellaneous
A conversation with Schone Malliet, the founder and current head of the National Winter Activity Center or NWAC in Vernon, New Jersey. The NWAC works to introduce under-resourced kids from the New York City metropolitan area to winter sports. They partner with organizations such as the YMCA and Boys and Girls Club of America to bus young people to the center on property formerly known as Hidden Valley, an alpine area with lights and snow making entirely owned and operated by NWAC exclusively for NWAC participants. They provide each participant with equipment, mentoring, healthy meals and even clothing as needed, to get them on the hill with an instructor. They are a non-profit and their programs are made affordable to participants. Having already expanded to snowboarding, NWAC is now expanding to include Nordic skiing. Schone is a former marine captain and pilot. He is an African American who grew up in the South Bronx. He studied Econ at Holy Cross College and then earned an MBA at Pepperdine University. He worked in finance at Wells Fargo before becoming the executive vice president of the National Brotherhood of Skiers and the CEO of the National Winter Sports Education Foundation. This is the first interview that I’ve done remotely and the audio quality is not perfect. Thanks for bearing with me as I learn the best ways to record these conversations. The NWAC website is http://winter4kids.org/. To support their mission, you can donate online or call the center at 973-846-8250.