With the planned Snow Ghost chairlift replacement project scheduled to start this summer, Schweitzer Mountain Resort has decided that the best thing to do with the old double-seat chairs is lift up local charities. 

“We have had a lot of people interested in having a part of Schweitzer’s history for themselves and we see this as a great opportunity for our local non-profits to benefit from this well-loved legend,” says Schweitzer’s Family and Activities Director, Dani Demmons. “Each chair has a donation amount of $2000 attached to it. When a person or an organization decides to acquire a chair, they will write a check directly to a pre-approved local 501(c)(3) organization. Then, Schweitzer gifts the chair to the donor and they can do as they wish with the chair.”

Schweitzer has worked with a variety of non-profits in the area over the years, donating more than $200K in cash and in-kind product each year to local causes and the resort feels that “Chairs for Charity” has the potential to donate approximately $280K back into the community.

“Each organization is only eligible to receive one financial donation of $2000 for a chair per year,” clarifies Demmons. “But that doesn’t mean they can’t do another one-time request for other donation items for their events such as tickets, passes, gift baskets, or even a chair of their own! We want these chairs that gave so many of us such wonderful days on the mountain to bring joy to even more of our community.”

Here’s how it works:

• Chair donations will be accepted online starting April 1, 2019 with chairs available for pick-up during the summer of 2019.
• A person (or organization) chooses an organization they would like to support and makes a request to participate on that organization’s behalf through Schweitzer. Once approved by the Schweitzer donations committee, they write a check for $2000 directly to that organization. They are donating money directly and writing their check direct to that specific charity/ organizations.
• Schweitzer gifts a chair to the donor and they can do as they wish with it; keep it for themselves, give it away, etc. (It is their chair now!)
• Schweitzer makes no commitment to verify that each donation qualifies the giver for a tax break. It is the responsibility of the donating party to verify this information.
• Each organization on the recipient’s end is only eligible to receive 1 financial donation of $2000 from a chair per year.
• FYI - Donors will not be able to choose the number of chair. They’re all awesome!

For more details on “Chairs for Charity” visit https://www.schweitzer.com/donation-requests.