Maine Handicapped Skiing, Maine’s largest adaptive recreation program for children and adults with physical disabilities, will hold programs in downhill and cross-country skiing, snowboarding and snowshoeing this winter season.

Maine Handicapped Skiing offers lessons for free at four locations in Maine: Sunday River Ski Resort, downhill skiing and snowboarding, Sunday through Friday; Sugarloaf-USA, downhill skiing and snowboarding, weekends only; Sunday River Inn and Cross Country Ski Center, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing, Wednesdays and Fridays; and Pineland Farms, New Gloucester, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing, Thursdays.

Maine Handicapped Skiing serves those who have many types of physical disabilities, including traumatic brain injury, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, limb loss, blindness and visual impairment, deafness and hearing impairment, stroke, spinal cord injury and spina bifida.

Prospective and returning participants at Maine Handicapped Skiing are required to fill out an application form and get a physician’s statement permitting them to take part in the program.

Staff members and volunteers evaluate each participant individually, determining their interests, physical strengths and what they want to accomplish. Once evaluated, participants are assigned to one or more volunteers who work with them on the slopes to learn downhill skiing or snowboarding, or on the trails for cross-country skiing or snowshoeing.

Every year volunteers at Maine Handicapped Skiing teach more than 250 participants with physical disabilities to downhill and cross-country ski, snowboard and snowshoe. Last winter, more than 3,600 free lessons were provided, thanks to the generosity of the four ski resorts and the continued charitable donations of individuals, corporations and businesses that support Maine Handicapped Skiing.

Maine Handicapped Skiing will offer its third annual Veterans-No Boundaries winter program for veterans and active duty service personnel with physical disabilities Jan. 31 through Feb. 4. Veterans and their spouses or significant others will participate in downhill and cross-country skiing, snowboarding and snowshoeing at Sunday River. Lessons, equipment, meals and entertainment will be provided free of charge to the veterans.

This year, 19 veterans from New England participated in the winter program. A grant from Bath Iron Works and donations from American Legion posts, along with numerous individual and Bethel business supporters, provide support for the Veterans-No Boundaries program across Maine.

Maine Handicapped Skiing attracts program participants from Maine, New England, Canada and as far away as Great Britain. Lessons are offered first-come, first-served at no cost.

If you have a physical disability or know a friend or family member who has a physical disability, call Maine Handicapped Skiing to learn more about its programs.

For information on becoming a participant at Maine Handicapped Skiing or the Veterans-No Boundaries program, call 800-639-7770; e-mail info@skimhs.org or visit www.skimhs.org.