As a Police Officer, Firefighter, Paramedic or EMT, you spend long hours away from your family serving the community, protecting property, and saving lives. Badge Discounts would like to thank you for your service by promoting the ski resorts that show their appreciation for our neighborhood heroes by offering lift ticket and season pass discounts for Firefighters, EMS, Police, and First Responders.

California

Mountain High- Active U.S. Police/Fire/Military...show your work identification and/or valid photo I.D. at any ticket window and receive:

-$69.00 8-Hour Ticket. Save 23% every day.

-$39 Night Ticket 5pm-10pm. Save 24%. 

Valid 7 days a week including holidays. Limit one ticket per person per day. Ticket is not transferable. Program not valid in conjunction with any other discount or promotion.

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Big Bear Mountain Resort- all active personnel with valid ID to join us on selected dates (listed below) to ski/ride for only $45*. To take advantage of this sweet deal by heading to any ticket window at Bear Mountain or Snow Summit to purchase 2019/20 lift tickets at the discounted rate of $45*. This deal is available to active law enforcement, firefighters, military, and EMS.

 ·January 8-9

· February 5-6

· March 4-5

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Yosemite National Park They salute heroes with a special discount for military, emergency medical services (EMS), police and firefighters to say thank you for your service. Yosemite Ski & Snowboard Area is proud to extend the following offers to military and first responders and their families. Present your ID or documentation at the Yosemite Ski & Snowboard Area Activities Desk to receive this offer. Blackout dates apply.

• Pass Details-Free lift ticket for all military and first responders
• Immediate family members receive a 50% discount on regularly priced lift ticket prices

Colorado

Sunlight Mountain Resort announced it will offer free skiing and riding to all active firefighters and first responders as part of its new Firefighter Fun Day campaign. For details visit their site.

Idaho

Silver Mountain offers a discount to Police/Fire/Military/EMS.  Silver Mountain appreciates all those who keep our homes and country safe. Must present work identification and/or a valid photo ID. *Discount valid for active or retired personnel.

Lookout Pass  If you are a Nurse, EMT, Police Officer, Firefighter or active in the Military - this is your day. Come SKI FOR FREE at Lookout Pass with appropriate ID on 3/6/20 and 3/20/20.  Understandably they will need to see proof in the form of photo ID showing your active involvement in any of the above listed services. Show your ID at the ticket window, Fill in the required form to receive your free lift ticket.  

Indiana

Paoli Peaks This special package is only $45 per person and includes a lesson for persons age 7 and above, lift ticket and rental equipment! The combined savings is over $40 per person! This offer is valid for Educators, Fire & Rescue personnel, First Responders and Law Enforcement with valid i.d.* and their immediate family only**. All family members must be present at time of purchase. Visit their site for details and dates.

Maine

Pleasant Mountain- offers a season pass to first responders at a discounted rate of $395. Visit their site for details.

Massachusetts

Butternut- offers a special deal for police, firefighters, and EMS on list ticket purchases. Visit their site and click on the discount programs page.

Michigan

Ski Brule- offers discounted appreciation weeks for police, firefighters, and medical staff. Visit their site for dates and details.

Missouri

Hidden Valley- On February 13th Hidden Valley would like to say thank you to the difficult job First Responders do each and every day!  All day First Responders will be eligible to receive 50% off lift ticket and rentals just by showing valid First Responder ID.  Time: 1:00 PM - 9:30 PM  Admission: 50% Off

New Jersey

Mountain Creek Save 25% Off window ticket rate Midweek Non-holiday & 25% Off on Weekends & Holidays! Valid for all active or retired Police/EMS/Firefighters (EMS, Fire, Police) and any of the 5 branches of military (active or retired) with valid ID. Please present ID at the time of purchase. Offer only valid for guest on valid ID

New Mexico

Taos Ski Valley- First Responders/Emergency Service personnel are eligible for the First Responder Pass for $550. Guest must present valid ID at time of pass pick-up 

New York

Windham Mountain- supports military personnel, veterans, firefighters, police officers, and emergency medical first responders with the stripes and badges program. Stripes and Badges members receive $40 off midweek non-holiday day tickets and $15 off weekend/holiday day tickets.

Thunder Ridge- Tuesdays are First Responder Days! Police/Firefighters/EMTs are eligible for this deal from 10am – 5pm.

Lift Tickets: $25

Rentals: $30

Lessons: $30

Greek Peak Mountain Resort-  First Responder Season Passes are available to military personnel, firefighters, police officers, and EMT's that hold a current ID representing their employment. The ID must be presented upon purchase and when picking up the pass. This is only available to the first responder, not family members.

North Carolina

Cataloochee- Supports Fire and Rescue personnel by offering a special reduced rate for fire and rescue personnel with valid i.d. and their families on January 30-31, 2020, and a Law Enforcement Appreciation Day February 6-7,2020. These special packages are only $50 per person and includes a 1 1/2 hour lesson for persons age 8 and above, lift ticket for either day, twilight or night skiing and rental equipment! The combined savings is $50 per person over Cataloochee’s regular rates! And if lessons are not required, the lift ticket price will be $25 per person and rentals an additional $10. This package price is good for day skiing from 9am until 4:30pm, twilight skiing from 1pm until 10pm or night skiing from 6pm until 10pm. This offer is valid for fire and rescue personnel with valid i.d. and their families only. All family members must be present at time of purchase.

Wolf Ridge- Firefighters / Law Enforcement get $5 off a Lift Ticket everyday (ID required)

Pennsylvania

Bear Creek offers a Police, Fire, EMS and 911 Dispatcher Special: Monday through Thursday (non-holiday*). All members of the police, fire departments, EMS personnel, and 911 dispatchers receive a $25 Extended Day Lift Ticket (With valid ID card) All persons MUST provide their own ID to receive discount. Discount not available to family members.

Montage Mountain Resort has a First Responder Appreciation Day on Jan 29th from 9am-9pm. First responders including EMTs, Police, & Fire can enjoy $15 lift tickets by showing their ID at the ticket window.

Washington

Mission Ridge says thank you to those who serve our community and put their safety in jeopardy to protect ours. In recognition of your service, Mission Ridge will honor Firefighters, EMTs, and Law Enforcement professionals by providing free skiing and riding from opening day through the third weekend in December. On the December 21st they will publicly thank our local and regional Emergency Responders with a day dedicated to honoring their service.  ID card required to receive the complimentary lift ticket.

West Virginia

Winterplace- Tuesday is Emergency Service Appreciation Day.

$28.50 Lift Ticket or $27.50 Snow tubing Ticket

Available to all Police, Fire Fighters, EMT & Hospital Personnel

· MUST show VALID Employee ID

· Discount is extended to immediate family (spouse & children, maximum of 6 people) of person presenting ID

· Ticket MUST be bought on Tuesday at Ticket Window

· Ticket MUST be attached at the time of purchase

· NOT VALID with any group offers or any other offers

· Begins Jan. 7, 2020



You will need 4 things:

1) An idea

2) A website builder and host 

3) A domain name 

4) A way to monetize your site.

1) The easiest way to come up with an idea for a website is to go with something you are knowledgeable about or compassionate about. You can write a blog about your experiences as a first responder, sell products on an e-commerce site, or fill a niche that you think is underserved or you could do better.

2) A web host is essentially a company that owns a whole bunch of huge computers that specializes in creating the home where your website lives. There are a bunch of companies out there these days that will host your website, and provide an easy to use drop and drag website builder. You do not need to know any HTML code to build a professional looking site. I use Weebly to host and build my site. They offer many different templates and themes to choose from, apps, an ecommerce store, and many other options. I think they offer the most bang for your buck. They offer different levels at different prices depending upon what features you want to have. If you just want a basic site or blog, they also offer a free option. I have been very happy with Weebly and would recommend them to anyone.

3) The domain name is essentially the name in the address where you want your site/blog to live (i.e., badgediscounts.com is the domain for Badge Discounts). Getting one is really easy, as any host/website builder you sign up with can get you your domain name at the same time you sign up (I did all of this through Weebly).  Weebly offers a free domain that looks like this (yoursitename.weebly.com), or you can pay to have a ".com" name. Think long and hard before you choose your site name, because if your site is successful, you’ll be stuck with it for a long time. Be creative, because obviously a lot of the simplest names have long been taken. Generally speaking, shorter is better. More memorable is better. If you have to spell the name when telling a friend about it, that could be an issue.

4) Now that you have a domain name and built your site, why not try to make a little money. (Note: this is more for blogs etc than an ecomerce site.) There are 2 main ways to monetize your site: Pay-Per-Click Ads and Affiliate Marketing. Pay-Per-Click is just as it sounds. When someone clicks on an ad you have placed on your site, you get paid for it. The big one in this area is Google Adsense. Affiliate Marketing is different in that you get paid a commission. When someone clicks on one of the ads on your website and then buys something from that company, you get a percentage of the sale. Some companies run their own, like Amazon, and others outsource their affiliate program to companies like ShareASale.com which have thousands of advertisers to choose from. I use both Amazon and ShareASale.com, and I've seen decent returns through both.

That’s it. Follow those three easy steps, and you can have your site up and running and hopefully make a little money too. ​