How it Started

Dragonfly Forest was conceived from a skiing experience that gave Laura Jansen, Founder and Chairman, the chance to "feel just like everyone else."
 
A few years ago my husband and I were registering our five-year old son for his first skiing lessons.  When we finished registering, the instructor asked if I were going to ski as well.  Since I was sitting in a wheelchair I thought it obvious that I would not be skiing and I thought, "What a silly question."  When she asked why not, I pointed to the wheelchair.  The instructor suggested I look into their adaptive ski program.  I did, and by that afternoon I was suited up in borrowed ski clothes, strapped into a remarkable contraption called a bi-ski, on the chair lift and heading up the mountain.

I will never forget the extraordinary feeling I had as we stopped at the top of the mountain to enjoy our glorious surroundings.  As I looked at the magnificent view that unfolded around me, I turned to see other skiers admiring the same view.  At that moment, I thought, "This is it ... I am skiing, just like everyone else."

Out of Laura's experience on that mountain came the idea to create a summer camp for kids with serious illnesses - so they too could feel "just like everyone else."