2014 Community Five Award Recipient: Grant Korgan
The High Fives Non-Profit Foundation emphasizes a strong sense of community through its continued effort to realize its vision of becoming the safety net for the winter action sports community. Beginning in April 2014, the Foundation will annually recognize five shining examples of community leaders with the Community Five Award.
Co-Founder and Executive Director, Roy Tuscany has witnessed firsthand how important a community can be in the recovery process from a life-altering injury. Since his skiing accident in 2006, Tuscany has enjoyed seeing the greater Lake Tahoe area come together as a tight-knit collective of families, business and philanthropically minded residents. It is with the ever-increasing reach of the High Fives Foundation that the time has come to recognize five distinguished members of the greater Lake Tahoe and Reno, Nevada community for their efforts to increase the overall well being of everyone around them.
On Wednesday, April 23, 2014 the High Fives Foundation hosted The Biggest Little High Five Gala at the Nevada Museum of Art in Reno, NV. With a packed venue of 180 distinguished guests, the High Fives Foundation showcased the power of positivity and perseverance with highlighted stories and videos from High Fives Athletes as well as support from notable contributing partners such as SpineNevada (a regional center of excellence for back and neck conditions based in Reno, NV). To cap this wonderful evening of giving, the High Fives Foundation’s Roy Tuscany announced five special recipients to receive a Community Five Award — The first of its kind to come from the Foundation; the Community Five Award recognizes those that embody the ideals of community in the context of growth and positivity.
Grant Korgan – Reno, NV
After sustaining a spinal cord injury that left him paralyzed from the waist down, world-class adventurer, nanoscientist, and professional athlete, Grant Korgan – who has never shied away from a challenge – refused to balk at his new reality because he still has a mission in store. By doing the hard work and tirelessly visualizing his progression, he has found the strength to rise and reclaim his active lifestyle by becoming the first spinal cord-injured athlete in history to ski 80 miles to Antarctica’s South Pole (made possible by board-approved grants from the High Fives Foundation). Today, this High Fives Athlete is the emerging face of spinal cord recovery and heralds his message of choosing positivity through adversity so that we may all climb a mountain for someone we love.
It is with this, that High Fives Foundation is proud to recognize Grant Korgan as a recipient of the 2014 Community Five Award!
