Skate for Joy

All Carolyn Drumm wants is a sheet of ice. It is on ice that she makes things happen.

It doesn’t seem that it should be that difficult. There are plenty of well-groomed patches of the stuff. And considering what Drumm does, it seems that some well-meaning person with some solid ice connections should be calling.

But Drumm is finding that the kind of ice she is looking for is in such demand that there is no room for her and her unlikely band of skaters. Her work might come to an early end this year for lack of a place to do the good thing she does.

When the Christmas tree-lighting ceremony was held at Providence City Hall last year, Drumm’s work was part of the celebration. Onto the ice at the Fleet Skating Center, in their Skate for Joy sweatshirts donated by BankRI, came kids who probably never would have put a blade on ice if not for Drumm.

“The look of pride on their faces, it was wonderful,” she says.

It was one of those moments when she knew that her decision to lace up the skates again was a good one.

She had been a competitive figure skater, seeing a fair amount of the country as she took her skills on the road.

Then she got married and had children and put the skates away.

But four years ago, she realized that what she had put away could be brought back out and put to very good use.

She was watching Oprah Winfrey, who has been the source of a bunch of good ideas over the years. This particular show was about “using your life.” It was about taking whatever skills or knowledge or resources a person has and putting them to work.

“I thought, ‘I used to be a pretty good skater,’” says Drumm. “I can use that.”

She talked to her husband, Jim, who owns a construction company, about all the charitable solicitations they receive and all the donations they make. And they decided the time was right to create a good cause of their own.

Drumm wanted to bring the pleasure of skating, something that had been such an important part of her life, to kids who might never see ice beyond the stuff on the sidewalk in February.

She wasn’t really sure how to go about it, but she remembered going to the Urban League of Rhode Island to visit her husband when his company was building an addition to the league’s facility.

So she called the Urban League. And the Urban League filled a van with kids and brought them to the Fleet Skating Center. And Skate for Joy began on some wobbly young ankles in the middle of Providence.

It has grown. Two years ago, Drumm hooked up with the Fox Point Boys and Girls Club. There are now eight volunteers working with her to teach both figure skating and hockey. Skates have been donated.

Sponsors have been generous. One of the most generous is J.D. Cement Works, her husband’s company. The program does not cost the kids or the families a dime.

And some of the kids are getting very, very good on the ice.

“I enjoy seeing kids master skills they might not have had the chance to,” Drumm says.

There are some rules. A kid who uses foul language does not come back to the ice the following week.

And there are some small, comfortable rituals. Drumm provides a healthy snack after each session. And there is a banquet at the end of the season.

But the season ends too soon. There is still a lot of skating to do, things to learn. Drumm very much wants to expand Skate for Joy’s year to coincide with the school year. And she wants to find a place where she can teach without the distractions of the Fleet Skating Center.

So she has called. She has called colleges. She has called any place in Providence that has that sheet of ice. All she wants is one hour a week. Just one hour. She and her volunteers can do what they want to do in an hour.

“I’m trying to partner with some colleges, get some of their students involved,” she says. “We just want a place to call home.”

But she is hearing that that hour is just not available. Every minute of ice time on every rink in Providence is spoken for.

She figures she might have to just go ahead with this year’s banquet at Wes’ Rib House in Olneyville and start planning for next season. But she would like to have something in place for September, a rink for just an hour a week where she can pass along the lasting pleasure of skating.

It is a modest request that promises rich returns. There has to be a way to make it happen.

First appeared in the Providence Journal.
Sunday, March 28, 2004
Skate for Joy could be running out of ice
by: Bob Kerr