Via West Thanksgiving Recap

Happy Thanksgiving from all of us here at Via West! We just spent a fantastic holiday weekend at Via West full of football, friends, and food! We went shopping at the Via West Market to select ingredients to make stuffing and pumpkin pie for our Thanksgiving feast.

We decorated masks to be sold at this year's Via Ball since the theme is Mardis Gras Masquerade.

 We made journals and photo albums, and we practiced our football skills. We then stuffed all of our Thanksgiving turkeys with our homemade stuffing.

We made vases to use as centerpieces for Thanksgiving, and we put our football skills to good the test with a campus wide scrimmage.

Everyone then dressed up to sit down to our wonderful homemade feast (thanks to Deli Dave and the kitchen staff!), and we shared what we are most thankful for this year. We finished the night off by dancing away all of our calories at the Turkey Trot!

To see more pictures from this weekend, please visit 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!

Charlotte's Life

Check out this video presentation by former participant and current JR Counselor for Via West, Charlie Colby:

Harry Potter Halloween Recap

Expelliarmus! Our young witches and wizards spent a frightful and fun-filled weekend at the haunted Via West Castle. We competed in a live chess game, brewed potions, hatched dragon eggs, and made magic wands to cast our Halloween spells.

On Saturday, we took a field trip to Giordano Farms where we rode on the train, learned about animals in the petting zoo, and everyone picked the perfect pumpkin to take home.

Back on campus, we played a rousing game of Muggle Quidditch, searched for magical creatures with our Bowtruckle and Niffler treasure hunt, and we used iPads to learn all about Harry Potter and Halloween.

Things got a little bit spooky at the Shrieking Shack haunted house and then everyone boogied on down at the Goblin Gala. To round out the weekend, everyone was able to pose for a picture with Professor Dumbledore!

To see more pictures from the weekend, please visit our Facebook page.

Last Days of Summer Recap

We just kicked off the 2012-2013 weekend season with The Last Days of Summer! We had a blast celebrating the last of the warm weather. We learned how to make seed balls to plant in the ground and we made suncatchers and pinwheels as well. We rooted through the Via West garden and dug up some delicious vegetables that we then cooked for our summer bbq extravaganza!

We splashed around in the pool, learned on iPads, showcased our talent at the talent show, and had a fun-filled dance under the stars. 

We had an epic showdown of men versus women in the Via West baseball game. While the men made an amazing comeback, the defensive skills of the women allowed them to prevail!

To see more photos from this weekend, please visit our Facebook page. To register for a private pay weekend program, please click here.

Is it Time to Clean your Closet?

Via West is looking for some items to jazz up our dress-up closet for dances, talent shows, and performances during weekend and summer programs. We can use any kind of dress-up clothes for children, teens, and adults. We welcome, in particular, prom gowns, cocktail dresses, cheerleading uniforms, square dance attire, and Halloween costumes.

We greatly appreciate any and all contributions! Please bring your dress-up clothes to the main office at 2851 Park Ave, Santa Clara, CA 95050. We are open Monday through Friday from 8:30am-4:30pm. You may also send clothes with your participant to weekend programs and we will collect them at check in.

Upcoming Events

Check out some of the great events that Via Services will be participating in during the next few months:

September 13: BAP Special Needs Community Mixer

September 22: Morgan Autism Center 11th Annual Conference

September 28-30: Palto Alto Gran Fondo

September 29: Special Needs Resource Event at Horton Youth Center

October 12: Disability Awareness Day

October 20: Down Syndrome Network 8th Annual Buddy Walk

October 28: Bay Area Autism and AD/HD Conference

November 18-20: Abilities Expo

If you have any questions, please contact Jennifer Kam at 408-243-7861, ext. 218.