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Firefighter John Sarubbi, his wife Cathy and their five children were honored as the Windham Mountain Ski Family of the Year last month for their participation in the Wounded Warrior program at the Adaptive Sports Center in the Catskills.
The Sarubbis go upstate every weekend to teach disabled veterans how to ski. The program was first looking for people with disabilities, but then opened itself up to those with disabled children. Mr. Sarubbi's 17-year-old daughter, Caitlin, has Ablepharon Macrostomia Syndrome, leaving her with no eyelids and excessive facial flesh. Caitlin is also a volunteer instructor with Disabled Sports USA, according to the Daily News.
"From there I volunteered as an instructor for anyone with disabilities to ski," Mr. Sarubbi said in a phone interview. "I went from skiing to helping out in the building. We run a lunch program."
Mr. Sarubbi, of Marine Unit 6, described his work with Windham as a rewarding experience. "When you get a guy back from Iraq without a leg, you get out on that mountain and he's your friend," he said. "These guys really get moved by it."
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