Piles of snow plowed and shoveled alongside driveways and sidewalks and stuffed into center lanes on city streets may be a flickering memory for the Flathead, but our winter playground provided some lifetime memories for athletes who participated in Special Olympics Montana last month.

Joey Jankovsky, a 13-year-old member of the Columbia Falls Wildcats team, is one of those intrepid athletes. One of his teachers at Columbia Falls Junior High, John Williamson, wrote about the transformation he witnessed as Jankovsky trained for his Olympic debut.

“I just spent the last six weeks watching a very dedicated man who volunteers with the Dream Team work with Joey,” Williamson wrote. “Clay is one of the Dream Adaptive’s volunteers who give of their time and talents to teach special education students to ski at Whitefish Mountain Resort.”

Once a week these volunteers spend a day working with these students to prepare them for the Special Olympics State Winter Games.

“Clay is an excellent skier who has the patience of Job,” Williamson said. “Clay took Joey and molded him, cajoled him and created confidence in him that allowed Joey to not only participate in the intermediate skiing events but to earn his very first bronze medal in downhill slalom. Now he wants to run in track. It was such a positive experience!

“The excitement on Joey’s face when he received that medal was priceless — I could not be prouder of him. And the joy on his mother’s face brought tears to my eyes.”

“It was incredible for me to see him do so well at something he loved so much,” said Kristi Jankovsky, Joey’s mother. “Skiing had also been a huge part of his father’s life. His dad passed away five years ago but he would have loved to see Joey ski.”

Kristi was able to go up to the mountain every day to watch her son practice. “Clay had so many tricks up his sleeve for every challenge he and Joey faced,” she said. “His teaching strategies and abilities were just remarkable. He never got rattled and he never gave up.”

“I wanted not only to tell Clay what a great thing he had done,” Williamson said, “but to let the community know what these men and women who volunteer for the Dream Team deserved the highest praise and accolades that there are! The whole organization is spectacular for kids and their self-esteem. Thank you all for what you do and for who you are.”

Members of the Ten Lakes Snowmobile Club would like to thank all of the volunteers, sponsors and participants who helped make the 2014 Charity Fun Run Snowmobile Ride on Feb. 1 a great success.

Funds raised during the event will be used by the club to operate and maintain the trail groomer. The club will also provide three local nonprofit organizations with $750 each from the ride receipts. This year’s recipients are the Tobacco Valley Food Pantry, Tobacco Valley Senior Center and Can-Am Search and Rescue.

The Ten Lakes Snowmobile Club works to preserve snowmobiling access in Northwest Montana.

Community editor Carol Marino may be reached at 758-4440 or by email at community@dailyinterlake.com.