The gem that traditionally marks a 40th anniversary is a ruby, which signifies love and passion. That’s a common description of the people who serve at National Ability Center now celebrating four decades of empowering individuals of all abilities through sport, recreation and educational programs.“The staff is one of the things I’ve been most impressed by, because they are more than qualified, and they lead with their hearts,” said Chief Executive Officer Willie Ford. “I’ve had countless numbers of parents and caretakers tell me, ‘Our loved ones have never been seen as the humans they are, but the minute they come to your campus they are seen as the human they are. And it’s because of the staff.’”The 17 board members are also a force to be reckoned with, according to Ford.“They volunteer their time with the idea of contributing to our organization so we can have a greater impact on the community we serve,” he said. “They are incredibly unified and caring, and many are parents of individuals who came through our programing.”The grand opening of the National Ability Center at Park City Mountain was held in the fall of 2023.Programming includes an array of outdoor recreation that includes, but not limited to, white-water rafting in Moab, adaptive skiing at Park City Mountain and equestrian sessions, Ford said.“You can do a 40-foot-high challenge course whether you’re in a wheelchair or not, and then you can then walk 200 yards and go into our bike shed and pick one of the 300 available bikes we have that will best suit your needs where your disability is,” he said. “We get you outside. You feel wind in your face. You see beautiful mountains and get a little bit of adrenaline flowing.”At the end of those adventures, participants can head to the NAC lodge for a cup of coffee and relax on the couch or retire to their rooms, Ford said.“This is an offering that doesn’t exist in other places, and we commit to being that special place that is high-quality, inclusive, friendly and as close to white-glove service you can have,” he said. “It’s something that many in the community we serve don’t have, but deserve.”Meechee White and Pete Badewitz, a Vietnam veteran, used a $3,000 grant to establish the National Ability Center with a goal of providing 12 veterans and individuals with disabilities with winter sports experiences, Ford said.“They were visionaries at the time, and here we are 40 years later with three different campuses, 21 different programs that serve about 6,000 people a year, with the military still being a third of what we do,” he said. “There are currently 40 million Americans living in the United States with a qualified disability, and we help 6,000 through 32,000 experiences. So, we have a big responsibility to help more people and deliver high-quality programming that is impactful to our participants, and fills a need, especially in the United States of America.”In addition, Ford counted nearly 50 families who moved to the greater Park City area because they couldn’t find the resources that the NAC provides anywhere else in the country. But serving those with disabilities is only part of the mission.The Norwegian Fjord horse Rebekka Dill, led by Meghan O’Toole, National Ability Center equine manager, retired from service after 33 years at the recreational nonprofit. “The biggest, heart-warming thing I’ve learned since I’ve been here is that the programming that we do, while monumental and impactful for the individual, is just as impactful to their families in a lot of ways,” he said. “The reality is that many people take doing things outdoors as a family, hiking or biking, for granted, and if there is a family member who has a disability, they don’t have that fortune. So what we do is give access to the things the family loves so they can do them together. We do a lot of individual programming for sure, but we aren’t going to forget teaching and inspiring families how to do things together.”In order to do that, the National Ability Center needs to remain an open, inclusive and warm place where the community can come and volunteer in support of its mission, Ford said.“We also just want people to be part of what we do,” he said. “Last year, we had just over 1,000 different volunteers contribute 13,000 hours of service.”Without those volunteers, the NAC would have to raise a lot more money to do what it does, according to Ford.“But there’s more,” he said. “The impact of volunteering is a lot for our participants, but it also impacts our volunteers. They leave feeling like they’ve really contributed to the community.”Speaking of which, Ford believes community support has also helped the NAC reach its 40th anniversary.“We are a very capital-intensive organization, so whether you donate $20 or $1 million, the money is really important and impactful to us to empower our mission,” he said. “There is the perception out there that we don’t need a $50 donation, because they see how nice the National Ability Center’s campuses are. But without that $50 donation, we can’t do what we do.”So, to celebrate the 40th anniversary, the nonprofit has kick started ways people can donate, Ford said.“You can give $40 in our Give 40 for 40 incentive, or if you want to become more engaged, we are raising an additional $4 million to bolster the foundation for the organization to get ready for the strategic initiatives that we are planning,” he said. “We’re going through a strategic-plan process right now and we hope to have that wrapped up and ready to present by the end of February. In order for us to be truly successful, it’s going to come down to our ability to bring the whole industry of adaptive sports up. What will they learn from us, and what will we learn from them? How do we bring this community together? And how to ensure if you live with a disability in the United States you will at least know about us?”The catch in the next 40 years will be maintaining the quality of programming, Ford said.“There is pressure when you grow to compromise on quality, because when you compromise you can grow faster,” he said. “But we will not ever compromise on quality because the minute we do that, we become mediocre. So the tap dance we work on every day is how to grow without compromising on quality.”Ford keeps a list of what he calls “non-negotiables.”“These are things that we will never compromise on and things that are directly associated with our brand promise, which includes quality and participant satisfaction,” he said. “In the next 40 years, if we serve a million people with disabilities through non-impactful activities that they could have done without us, I won’t be that excited. But I’ll be excited to push their comfort levels with what they can believe they can achieve. In order to do that we have to offer high-quality programming.”For information about the National Ability Center and its 40th anniversary activities, visit discovernac.org/40year.The post National Ability Center reaches age 40 appeared first on Park Record.