Local Heroes: Brookfield Residents Hit Slopes to Fight Cancer

Larry and Sherrie Ruschmeyer, owners of New England Landscape & Management, Inc. in Ridgefield will participate in the American Cancer Society’s Hope on the Slopes event held at Jay Peak, VT.

The Ruschmeyers reside in Brookfield.

This will be their fourth year participating in the event held Feb. 22.

Hope on the Slopes is a ski and snowboarding event held at venues nationwide to fight cancer.

“We participate as ‘Team Nick Strong’ in honor of our son, Nick, who was diagnosed with ocular melanoma while he was in college,” Nick’s mother Sherrie said in a press release. “Four and a half years ago Nick heard the words “you have cancer.” At 20 years old, his young life changed in a heartbeat.”

“Hope on the Slopes is a small way for us to give back to the greater community and the work of the American Cancer Society. Nick is the inspiration behind our work and involvement. Being a part of this event enables us as a family to stay involved,” His father, Larry Ruschmeyer, added. ”It continues to amaze me how many people Nick has touched and continue to pray for him.”

According to Sherrie the idea is really the same as Relay For Life, you form a team, the team raises funds from family members and friends, and all funds raised go to support the work of the American Cancer Society. Larry and Sherrie’s only request of the ACS was that all of the funds they raise go to fight ocular melanoma, or melanoma of the eye - an extremely rare disease for a young person like their son to face.

Last year ‘Team Nick Strong’ beat out 20 other teams to raise over $6,000. The event as a whole raised over $30,000 for the ACS. Even more importantly, Sherrie notes, ‘Team Nick Strong’ also won the Hope Cup, awarded to the team demonstrating the most team spirit and camaraderie.

The day of the event all skiers arrive in the morning and are given a Flaik tracker, which is then used to monitor how many vertical miles each individual skis or rides. The team that completes the most vertical miles wins an award at the end of the day.

New England Landscape & Management sponsors ‘Team Nick Strong’, outfitting the team with matching t-shirts and providing prizes like jackets and sweatshirts for fundraisers on the team. And each year the team gets a bit bigger, filling up with mostly young 20 something’s, friends of Nick’s from college as well as family members. Larry, Sherrie and their daughter Nicole and son Cody also ski as part of the team.

Over the past few years ‘Team Nick Strong’ has received generous donations from such area businesses as Carroll Construction Corp. of Ridgefield, Montanari Fuel Services, Inc. of Ridgefield, The Congregational Church of Brookfield, The Bar & Grille on 7 of Ridgefield, The Early Bird Café of Ridgefield, Ridgefield Lawns of Ridgefield and Chameleon Media of Bethel.

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