The Palisades Tahoe Community Foundation (PTCF) started sort of by accident with a little money left over from a coaches’ party at Alpine Meadows in 2009.
Team parent Reem Saffouri recognized the financial burden of competitive skiing and snowboarding and saw an opportunity to help athletes and coaches pursue their goals. That idea became the Alpine Meadows Foundation. In 2013, it was formally organized as the Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows Foundation, before becoming PTCF in 2021 alongside the mountain’s name change.
From that serendipitous beginning, PTCF has gone on to award more than $1 million in scholarships since 2014. Alongside financial support, PTCF helps athletes keep up with school and builds connections among the families who spend their winters here.
I’m personally a proud PTCF board member, helping across marketing and digital initiatives, and default IT guy, including having my team at Peak Digital Studio rebuild the website last year.
Meagan Nichols, PTCF’s board president, was kind enough to answer my questions about the foundation’s history, the families it supports and what comes next.
What PTCF does
PTCF is an independent nonprofit supporting Team Palisades Tahoe (TPT) student-athletes through need- and merit-based scholarships, the Academic Center in the team’s building in Olympic Valley, and community events that help fund the work and bring people together.
An all-volunteer board of team parents and local community members leads the foundation. TPT’s Bill Hudson serves as a board member and Eric Garayoa as an adviser, while Flynn Ginty manages operations and development.
The mountain has a proud history of developing U.S. Ski & Snowboard Team members and Freeride World Tour athletes. PTCF supports those ambitions while recognizing that most young athletes will take the lessons they learn here into other careers besides Olympian or pro skier, including confidence, discipline, teamwork and a lifelong love of sliding on snow matter wherever they end up.
“We’re trying to build future leaders, not just future Olympians,” Meagan says.
The cost of competing and how scholarships help
Anyone who skis, particularly with one or more kids on a team, knows how quickly the costs accumulate. Passes, team fees, travel, a quiver of skis, other gear, competition entries: the list keeps growing, all in an area where the cost of living is already high. PTCF helps bridge that gap so more families can keep their kids involved and athletes can pursue opportunities as they progress.
There are two scholarship routes available to families:
Pre-season need-based scholarships help families plan for the coming winter.
In-season merit awards help athletes who qualify for regional, national or international championships meet the extra costs.
Recipients span TPT’s programs, from Mighty Mites and Alpine Rangers to skiers and snowboarders competing nationally and internationally in racing, freeride and cross disciplines.
Athletes are encouraged to write their own applications, reflecting on what they accomplished, where they improved and what their sport means to them. Families also give back by volunteering at PTCF events and fundraisers. It helps build a community where people receiving support play a part in making it possible for the next family.
What support means for Wyatt and Riley
When I asked Meagan for a story that showed what this support means to a family, she pointed to twins Wyatt and Riley Denkers, both PTCF scholarship alumni who live with cystic fibrosis.
For Wyatt and Riley, being active outdoors and belonging to a team have been important to their health and happiness. Their mom, Laura, has described PTCF’s support as life-changing: during a difficult year, it helped preserve the activity, friendships and joy that came with their ski seasons.
Meagan remembers that support in terms of what the boys could keep doing and how it made them feel. “That’s what every donation is really making possible,” she says.
The twins have since turned one of their own challenges into a business. After struggling with hydration while competing, they created Curent, a lightly carbonated electrolyte drink made with coconut water and little sugar. They’re also developing a powder version. It’s an awesome example of young athletes taking lessons they’ve learned in their sport and applying it to their life outside of skiing.
Academic support during ski season
Training and competition also make serious demands on an athlete’s time. Long days on snow and travel between events can make keeping up with schoolwork a challenge.
PTCF teamed up with TPT to create the Academic Center, on the second floor of the teams building. It’s free for TPT athletes in grades 5–12 during the training season, offering tutoring, test preparation, writing feedback and a structured place to complete coursework and build good study habits.
The Academic Center brings Meagan’s point about future leaders into focus. These kids need to leave the program ready for college, careers and whatever comes after their time on TPT, with the skills to manage their responsibilities alongside something they love.
Events that bring the community together
The third part of PTCF’s work is bringing the community together. The events help fund scholarships and academic support, while giving families, coaches, alumni and neighbors a reason to spend time together.
Warren Miller film screenings
The annual Warren Miller screening is a familiar warm-up for winter: ski movies, friends you haven’t seen since spring and plenty of anticipation for opening day.
This year’s film, Days Off, is Warren Miller’s 77th, hosted by filmmaker Katie Burrell. It follows top skiers and snowboarders on the days when they’re free to ski for the pleasure of it. The Palisades Tahoe screenings take place Wednesday, November 4, and Thursday, November 5, 2026, at 7 p.m. at the Olympic Village Event Center.
PTCF is a local partner, with a portion of ticket sales supporting the foundation. Scholarship student-athletes will be volunteering at the PTCF table, so you can meet some of the people your night at the movies helps support.
Tickets: Wednesday, November 4 or Thursday, November 5.
Kids Gear Swap
October 11’s Kids Gear Swap was PTCF’s biggest yet, according to Meagan. Organized with Creekside Charter School and Team Palisades Tahoe, it helps families pass along the skis, boots and jackets their kids have outgrown and find what they need for the next winter.
It’s a practical way to make the sport more affordable, and a chance for newer team families to meet people who have been doing this for years.
Peak 2 Peak
Our flagship spring fundraiser, Peak 2 Peak, is planned for Saturday, March 27, 2027. The name celebrates the two sides of the mountain, Palisades Tahoe and Alpine Meadows, and the day brings together a friends-and-family GS race, a freeride competition and an après celebration.
Parents race their kids, teammates cheer each other on, and everyone gets together afterward at Olympic House for raffle prizes, podium awards and a celebration of the season. The previous event raised more than $30,000 for PTCF.
“It’s a party with a purpose,” Meagan says. And it’s one you can put in your calendar now.
The Fall Auction and Red Dog chair sponsorships
What began as a parking auction has grown into the PTCF Annual Fall Auction, with more ways to support the athletes and come away with something you’ll enjoy all winter. The auction went live at 9 a.m. this morning, so you can browse the items and start bidding now.
This year’s lineup includes:
Preferred parking: a reserved front-row space in Palisades Tahoe’s Preferred Parking lot.
Apex Club passes: two passes for the 2026–27 season.
Mountain trail signs: real eight-foot trail signs from around the mountain, ready for a garage, cabin or living-room wall.
The auction raises money for athlete scholarships, turning a coveted parking spot or a piece of mountain memorabilia into support for someone’s season. View the auction and item listings.
Sponsor a Red Dog chair
You can also put your family’s name, a tribute to someone you love or a short message on the back of a Red Dog chair through PTCF’s chair sponsorship program. Sponsorships are $2,000, with proceeds supporting scholarships and academic resources.
Families have sponsored chairs in memory of loved ones, to honor friends and as holiday gifts. It’s a particularly personal way to give back to a mountain that holds a lot of memories.
Future plans and how readers can help
PTCF’s biggest challenge is the gap between what families need and what we can fund. Each year, we receive more strong applications than we can fully support. Our ambition is to make scholarship awards more meaningful, strengthen the Academic Center and help athletes keep up with their studies while traveling to compete.
Recurring donations and lasting partnerships with local businesses help us plan for those commitments. If you’d like to support the work, you can make a donation, attend a screening, participate in the auction, sponsor a chair or volunteer. Educators interested in tutoring can contact academics@ptcommunityfoundation.org.
It can all start with one small act, like Reem’s idea to use a little leftover party money to help young athletes pursue their dreams. Seventeen years later, that impulse has grown into a community effort that helps kids keep showing up, on the mountain and in the classroom.
Learn more at ptcommunityfoundation.org and follow @palisades_tahoe_cf on Instagram.