Thank You Remarks by Rusty at the Vitality Fair

We've been stunned at the incredible reception we received last Saturday at the first ever Vitality Fair.  We drew a crowd of over 150 and international skating talent, all in support of our Adaptive Ice Program.  After the program, Founder and President James (Rusty) Stout took to the mic to thank the community that came together in mutual support.  As our first large public event, it was a moment for both celebration and reflection.  As such, we thought it fitting to post Rusty's remarks from the evening.

Good evening Vital People! Thank you for joining the Party. We do hope you've had some fun. Mom always taught the two keys to community are Please and Thank you. So first, three Pleases:

PLEASE join Apex Park and Recreation District and the Vitality Community for Cheap Skate after the show. We'll have a good time and get to know each other a bit better. As you leave this evening, PLEASE take care so that you can PLEASE keep coming back to have some fun recreating – however you choose to participate!

And now it's time for the Thank You's – there are a lot more than three of those so please bear with me – it's an emotional time and I am a passionate guy.

Everyone here is participating in the launch of the world's first adaptive skating program aimed at mainstreaming elite ice skating. That's a really high bar for human achievement and we're doing it right now, right here, the right way – EVERYONE IS WELCOME and EVERYONE here has given their time, money, and talent to build this community, the necessary FIRST STEP on this particular journey. Everyone -- audience, cast, crew, mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, all of us make up the Vitality Community. Folks, WE ARE VITALITY – THANK YOU! And Thank you Apex Park and Recreation District. You have graciously accepted Us into the Apex Community and given Vitality a home.

We are a community of pretty normal people and that really means, in the most Vital community, no one is indispensible. However, in the organizational phase of creating something new, there are some indispensible individuals. First among those is Anjali Arnold who pulled off this marvelous day of activity and I ask everyone to join in thanking Anjali.

Not quite four years ago three individuals agreed to join me in building an organization that could support any individual's aspirations to move around the neighborhood quite comfortably and participate in normal recreational activities -- especially the ICY PART that impairs everyone's mobility pretty much the same way. In order to move comfortably on the ice, we all strap on prosthetic devices, train our capacity, and overcome a common mobility barrier – ice is a very slippery surface to move around on. Katie Barth, the Vitality Community's Founding Board Vice President continues to serve in that capacity and yesterday, skated for the first time. Thank you Katie. Right now she is on her way back to Rochester Minnesota where she teaches deaf education and I'm sure will continue to have a really good time skating.

The other two members of that Founding Board, and our first two Directors Emeritus are Alan Schauf of Wichita Kansas and the Reverend Sherry Lohman of Iowa City Iowa. Thank you Alan and Sherry. Their participation has been indispensible.

Thank you to the sitting board members of Vitality In Action Foundation: Our Treasurer is Bill Gugerty. Bill is soon off to Moldova in Eastern Europe where he will be a Fulbright Scholar. Thank you Bill. Paul Maricle has guided the board as our legal counsel and Secretary. Thank you Paul.

The three continuing board members are Jessica Butala of Colorado Springs, Griff Morgan, Jr. of Westminster, and Karen Venier, now of Golden. Thank you Jessica, Griff, and Karen. We have added two new board members, Dan Kelly of Arvada, and Joanna Coil of Lakewood. Thank you all for your past and future service to the Vitality Community.

There are two other individuals whose participation has been Vital to the Community. Zachariah Falconer-Stout is our Director of Special Projects and is currently serving our nation in the Peace Corps, stationed in Moldova. He's been a primary intellectual driver of our organization. Thank you Zach. I also want to give a special thank you to Yvonne Dowlen, my skating coach/partner/friend. Mom taught me to dance – Yvonne is teaching me to Ice Dance. Thank you, Yvonne.

Now, this will be a bit difficult for me to get through but we do have a very special thank you tonight. About a year and a half ago I met an incredible individual right here on this particular ice rink. We skated and talked about adaptive skating and there was an obvious connection right then and there and that person offered to provide a talent that was, from my perspective, way underappreciated. Then just a year ago, we went to work together in earnest and the result is what you see before you tonight. Anjali is the definition of Vitality!

Anjali, by Special Resolution of the Board of Directors of Vitality In Action Foundation, we hereby christen our elite adaptive skating program:

The Anjali Ability Academy

It is the best name for a place where anyone can come and discover the miracles inside themselves.