Every Whitefish elementary student who passes through the Big Mountain Ski Club ski days will now have a helmet to wear.

Whitefish Mountain Resort has donated 60 helmets to the club, which will use them when third through sixth-grade students from Whitefish Schools participate in ski days on Big Mountain.

“Each child can now wear a helmet,” said club president Sue Moll. “We didn’t have helmets before. This is a win-win situation.”

The ski club provides free ski lessons for kids with a club membership, but it also runs a skiing program that takes classrooms of students skiing a few times during the school year.

Moll thanked a few folks who were instrumental in obtaining the helmets for the club — Doreen Marcial, Dan Endrizzi and Robert Greer.

The ski club pays for buses to get students up on the mountain and rental equipment. In a combined effort, the resort and club help with the cost of the skiing and rentals, keeping it at $40 cost to the students. However, renting helmets for all the students was cost prohibitive, Moll noted.

“Our goal is to get kids skiing,” Moll said. “If they’ve gone through our program, by the time they’re in the seventh-grade they’ll have been on the mountain seven times. We hope that once they’ve gotten a taste of skiing, they’ll keep doing it.”

The Big Mountain Ski Club started in 1972. Its mission is to promote interest and activity in skiing. The club provides free ski lessons to children ages 5-12, holds an annual ski swap, and supports other local organizations.