Most Locals know who Kathy Copeland is and, if things keep going the way they are, her program will be just as well known as she is.

As the director of Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra (DSES), Copeland spoke to the Lions Club yesterday on the work the nonprofit group has been doing over the five years it's been in existence.
Primarily known for their winter program, in which they take disabled individuals (both physically and mentally) and share with them the experience and freedom of skiing and snowboarding on the mountain, DSES has been growing with summer activities in recent years.

The Wounded Warrior aspect of DSES has also garnered a lot of positive attention, which focuses on injured military personnel.

New to DSES is its designation as a Paralympics Sports Club and its relationship with the Camp Pendleton disabled program, which works with Traumatic Head Injury and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder patients who don’t qualify for the majority of disabled sports programs.

Copeland wanted to make it clear that DSES is a separate entity from the Mammoth Mountain Ski Area and as such relies on the generosity and volunteer services of the community at large.

“It’s grown so much because of our community,” Copeland said of DSES’s success. She also quoted a pool of over 200 volunteers who help out in all manner of ways, from teaching disabled students on the snow to maintaining their web page to doing carpentry work in the storage closet.

Copeland thanked the Lions Club for their past support and invited the members to the DSES Volunteer Kick-Off party scheduled for Nov. 15 at Woollywood on Mammoth Mountain and the Island Extravaganza fund raiser scheduled for Dec. 7 at the Little Eagle tent. – ES