Jingle Bell Rock Recap

The holiday season continued at Via West this past weekend with our adult participants and their Jingle Bell Rock! We kicked off the weekend with our opening campfire on Friday night, and then we spent Saturday morning hiking to gather pine cones for our holiday centerpieces, making menorahs, and using iPad apps to learn about the various December holidays.

Some local firefighters then stopped by to drop off our Christmas tree and to let us explore and pose for pictures with the fire truck.

We spent the rest of Saturday afternoon caroling, decorating cookies, making wreaths, making ornaments and dreidels, and decorating the tree. We also learned about the importance of giving back to the community by decorating and stuffing stockings to donate to Next Door's domestic violence shelter.

We finished up the weekend with an elegant holiday banquet, Jingle Bell Rock dance, and a meet and greet with Santa where everyone was able to receive their holiday presents!

To view more pictures from this weekend, please visit our Facebook page.

All I Want for Christmas Recap

Snow in California? You bet! With some help from the Rotary Club of Cupertino, the Via West Campus was transformed this past weekend into a glistening winter wonderland. We kicked off the weekend with some caroling at our opening campfire.

On Saturday, we spent time making ornaments, dreidels, menorahs, and various other holiday crafts to take home. We read Christmas stories, played music, and learned some new iPad apps.

 

After some down time in the lodges, we came outside to see that winter had arrived! We went sledding, made snowmen, had an epic snowball battle, and then we warmed up inside with cookies and hot chocolate.Everyone learned the importance of giving back to the community by decorating and stuffing stockings to donate to Next Door's domestic violence shelter.

We finished up the weekend with a festive dinner, Yule Ball, and a meet and greet with Santa where everyone was able to receive their holiday presents!

To see more pictures from this weekend, please visist our Facebook page.

Via West Gives Back

During the holiday weekends this year, child and adult participants at Via West will be stuffing stockings to donate to the Women and Children's Shelter in San Jose. If you would like to help our participants to help out the community, we are in need of the following items:

Toiletries - Travel size items:
Shampoo
Conditioner
Soaps
Body Wash
Hand Lotion
Shower Caps
Hand Sanitizer

Deodorant/Antiperspirant
Kleenex
Wipes
Sewing Kits
Band Aids

Other Items:
Socks
Gloves
Mittens
Hair clips/bands
Wrapped cookies
Wrapped candies

We appreciate your help! Donated items can be brought to the Via Services main office at 2851 Park Ave, Santa Clara, CA 95050. We will need these items before November 30th for the children's weekend and before December 14th for the adult's weekend. If your child is attending one of these sessions, then please feel free to bring any items to check in!

Operation Snowflake at Via West Campus December 3rd and 10th!!!

The Cupertino Rotary supported "Operation Snowflake" day has become a tradition at Via West Campus!

For our adult "Winter Wonderland" session December 2-4th, Rotarians will donate materials to Via West and run afternoon rotations with our counselors.   Activities such as tree decorating (the tree will be delivered by an antique firetruck and 4 firemen!!), elf hat making, and creating gift bags with wellness products for the homeless will be just a taste of the weekend!  Other activities include decorating Via West inside and out and a Holiday Banquet. It will be quite the festive weekend.

Then.. for our children's "Visions of Sugarplums" weekend, the Rotarians will be back, along with volunteers from Stevens Creek Quarry, Rolling Thunder Motorcycle Club, the Almaden School and many others to execute "Operation Snowflake"! This day will start with our participants going to rest after lunch at Via West Campus... and waking up in a snow covered wonderland!!  Cupertino Rotary and the Stevens Creek Quarry will have brought 10 tons of snow to Via West and volunteers will have transformed the lower campsite into a sled run and the main lawn into a snow play zone!!  Top that off with stocking making, cookies and cider, a sing-a-long, and that special man in red (SANTA!!!) will be making an appearance for photos. 

We can't wait for these wonderful weekends!!