Ski 4 A Cure Raises $14K for Roswell Park at HoliMont Event
A record turnout at HoliMont helps Ski 4 A Cure support Roswell Park cancer research while celebrating community, survivors, and generosity.
A Letter from the Ski Club of Lockport: Fourth annual event at HoliMont draws record turnout, boosting cancer research impact to an estimated $280,000
SCOL (Ski Club of Lockport) offered Roswell Park Alliance Foundation the Presentation Check of $14,000.00 on April 3, 2026 at HoliMont. For every dollar donated to cancer research, Roswell can leverage an additional $20.00 from external grants, such as immunotherapy, which equals $280,000.00 for this year!
The overall attendance significantly increased in numbers from the previous year, from approximately 80 to 119 this year. The fourth annual Ski 4 A Cure™ was more successful than the previous three years in overall revenue, activity participation, and 80 basket raffle items.
Skiing conditions were wonderful once again, courtesy of HoliMont’s trail grooming. We had blue sky weather with plenty of sun, which all made for fantastic skiing! The fun-filled day of events included a free demo day provided by both The City Garage and Snowflake 245 Ski and Board Co.
With the scavenger hunt, thirteen skiers took selfies with the selected items from a new list that was provided by HoliMont. Grab bags were awarded to two adults and two children. We had 38 participants for the Bombardier ball drop game and raised $287.00. Swag bags were awarded to five winners. Thanks to SCOLer Pam Fekete, Mary Ann Kostusiak, and Roswell Alliance for obtaining swag bag prizes.
The Giant Slalom, “Match Your Time Race” had 18 racers and awarded three grab bags to the winners. Racers received their times and cheers from SCOLers with cowbells at the bottom of the run. Thanks to our Swag Bag Donors: Snowflake, HoliMont Ski Patrol, HoliMont Gear-Up Shop, and Team Roswell/Roswell Park Alliance Foundation.
At the fourth annual cancer survivor parade, we had approximately 34 participants, including a guide. Many participants wore color beads to represent the different types of cancers. We skied in a snake-like formation to the bottom of Exhibition where we received cheers from SCOLers with cow bells!
Many thanks went out to our Gold Plus Sponsor: National Grid ($2,000), and two Gold Level Sponsors: Doran And Murphy PLLC; and Prudential, who contributed $1,000.00 each to Roswell Park Alliance Foundation/Ski 4 A Cure, as well as Team Pritchard for their $400.00 sponsorship of the race. We thanked the following businesses who entered our special basket raffle of items of $250.00 or more: Snowflake, Mud, Sweat n’ Gears, Cara Mia Pet Resort, HoliMont, Holiday Valley, Tops Friendly Markets, Roswell Park, the Ski Company, along with thanking over 20 other businesses for donations in kind.
We thank the following SCOL members for their generous donations in kind of over $250.00 for special basket raffle items: Tim & Gwyn Ryan, Jon & Mary Laverty, Mike McKernan, Pam Fekete, and Christine Radecki. We also thank Dr. Genene Crofut for her $250.00 donation to Team Roswell.
We thank the staff of the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation for their help with the planning of the event and to their five volunteers who helped on the day of the event, which was instrumental in the success of Ski 4 A Cure 2026, as well as Terry Bourgeois for his inspirational speech on why smaller events like ours make a real difference, and to Ellicottville Mayor John Burrell for sharing his personal story and connection with Roswell Park.
We thank the staff at HoliMont for the use of the Sunrise Room and for setting up an amazing day for us.
We thank EllicottvilleNOW publisher Brenda Perks and writer Mary Weiser for an amazing article, multiple ads, including a full page Ski 4 a Cure color poster in their January/February editions, and to the Villager for their article.
We thank Ellicottville businesses for displaying our flyer. Thanks to Michael, the caterer with Dina’s, for another amazing lunch and to SCOLer Pam Fekete for donating cookies. Finally, we are indebted to the 12 SCOL members on the planning committee, with an extra thank you to our Event Coordinator Mary Ann Kostusiak and to Deb Darling for creating amazing signs, posters, and tent cards. We also thank 14 additional “day of the event” SCOL volunteers who all made this experience possible.