This week, the sixth annual Sports Humanitarian Awards, sponsored by Bristol-Myers Squibb, will be awarded throughout the week via announcements on ESPN's studio shows, as well on Sunday night during The 2020 ESPYS Presented by Capitol One. As part of the Awards, ESPN announced Sunday morning that Burton Snowboards has been named the winner of the Corporate Community Impact Award.
In the United States there is a vulnerable segment of youth who do not have access to outdoor opportunities, and consequently limits their ability to access experiences beyond their own challenging environments and step away from their daily norms. The Chill Foundation was founded by the owners of Burton Snowboards, Donna Carpenter, and the late Jake Burton Carpenter. Chill was created to provide access to boardsports for youth who would not otherwise have the opportunity, providing them year-round programming to snowboarding, skateboarding, surfing and stand up paddleboarding lessons at no cost. The youth-development program also addresses the inequalities around access to boardsports, as well as the potential for personal growth and development, while focusing on the resiliency of the participants to help them transfer many of their new skills and ideas to different circumstances they may face. Through Chill, boardsports have become a vehicle for self-empowerment and overcoming obstacles for more than 25,000 young people since the program started.