The Ellie Soutter Foundation
GIVE BACK FRIDAY!
Black Friday's roots come from Thanksgiving in the US, so we thought why not turn this commercial gimmick into something truly positive, that actually involves giving back.
Instead of discounting our products for a bit of Christmas Shopping hysteria, we've decided to donate 20% of every sale for the whole week to a genuinely good cause.
What does the Foundation do?
The essence of the foundation is to support talented young ski & snowboard athletes through funding initiatives & coaching them through the pressures of professional competition.
Ellie Soutter:
When Ellie died in Les Gets, French Alps on her 18th birthday in July 2018, Ellie Soutter was one of the most progressive Junior Female Snowboard Athletes in Great Britain. She became Vice Champion of the world in the Junior Freeride World Tour in 2017. She was the winner of a bronze medal for Team GB at the 2017 European Youth Olympic Festival and was tipped to be one of Team GB’s strongest contenders for the 2022 winter Olympics, amongst other numerous podium finishes throughout Europe and the Southern Hemisphere.
Ellie trained mostly with her coach, French snowboarder-cross Olympic medalist and Les Gets local Deborah Anthonioz, and competed throughout Europe in boardercross at a national and Europa Cup level. Her goals for the future were to qualify for the Freeride World Tour and also improve her rankings on the World Cup circuit for boardercross. Ultimately Ellie hoped to achieve a place on Team GB’s snowsports squad for the 2022 winter Olympics in Beijing. This was her ultimate ambition.
As a junior athlete coming from a family without substantial wealth, Ellie often had to miss out on competing and training through lack of funds. She felt and understood the constant pressure on her family to obtain the necessary funds for her training and events. A full season of required training to maintain this level of competition was in excess of £30,000 annually. At this time, as a Junior GB athlete, there is minimal or no funding for travel or accommodation and athletes have to pay a subscription for coaching.
When she wasn’t snowboarding, Ellie could mostly be found enjoying the outdoors with friends, mountain biking, hiking and travelling.
How Oneskee got involved with the Foundation?
We are a family business with strong connections to Les Gets, we were introduced to Ellie's Dad Tony Soutter at The Telegraph Ski & Snowboard Festival in 2018 & ever since have wanted to help with the foundation & the great work it does in anyway possible. We were introduced via Trevor Schofield who has three children who deal with the stresses & strains of being professional snow sport athletes, so we feel like in a short space of time we have developed a strong affiliation to the cause. It's a great cause that needs as much awareness raising & support as possible.
For more information or to donate visit: https://theelliesoutter.foundation/