On August 2, 2023, Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian, Cupertino Mayor Hung Wei, and other community leaders gathered to celebrate Camp Via West’s newly renovated sports field with a ribbon cutting and naming ceremony. Children and adults with developmental disabilities will enjoy a more inclusive and accessible social and recreational camp experience thanks to support from Santa Clara County, Helpers Community, and private donations.
We are excited to announce that effective July 1, 2022, Via Services officially becomes affiliated with AbilityPath, making the newly combined nonprofit one of the largest providers of services for individuals with developmental disabilities on the Peninsula, offering the most comprehensive portfolio of services throughout a person’s lifetime. Both organizations share a common mission and vision for the future: ensuring those we serve achieve their full potential and are included in all aspects of our community – from the classroom to the workplace.
If you were unable to attend the tournament, but you still want to support Via, please consider making a donation to our Swing into Spring Giving Campaign! Help us reach our goal of $50,000!
Thank you to everyone who contributed on Giving Tuesday on November 30, 2021. Your generosity allows us to continue to rebuild from the effects of the pandemic. The families and community we serve will be directly impacted by your support, and we are so grateful to have you on our side. If you were not able to participate in Giving Tuesday, the Season of Giving continues with our end-of-year giving campaign “Better Together, Better With You!” Click the donate button below.
We rely on sponsorships to defray the costs of the Fall Festival so that we can make this event free for all to attend. We have so many different opportunities starting as low as $100! Every little bit helps, so please consider sponsoring one of the available items. Please click the button below to get started. SPONSORSHIPS
Please help us keep track of who will be attending this year by clicking the link below to RSVP. If you complete the form, you will receive one free raffle ticket when you arrive at the Fall Festival to enter to win one of many amazing prizes, including $500 in cash! You could be a winner just by letting us know you will be there! RSVP
If you can’t make the tournament, but you still want to support Via, then you can participate in our online Silent Auction! We have amazing items for everyone – from vacations to wine to family fun – we have it all! Click the link below for ONLINE AUCTION REGISTRATION and then read below for how to get started! It’s so easy!
STEP ONE: Click on either of the boxes that read “GET STARTED”
STEP TWO: Click “CREATE ACCOUNT” to securely enter your contact and credit card information.
We sincerely appreciate your belief in our mission and the services we provide to our community. On behalf of the wonderful families we serve, please accept our heartfelt thank you.
We are excited to present our new strategic plan for how we will enhance our services for the special needs community and their families, as well as a new vision, mission, and core values for the organization. To read the strategic plan in full, please click here.
Vision, Mission, and Values
Guided by our Strategy Committee and with support from the Executive Director and our strategic planning consultants (Mosaic Consulting and Coaching), Via’s Board of Directors engaged in visioning, reviewed the organization’s mission, and reflected on its deepest-held values. Articulated below, these shared commitments provide a foundation for Via’s strategic direction moving forward.
We envision an inclusive world in which individuals with disabilities and their families are living rich, joyful, and fulfilling lives, actively participating in the community, achieving their potential, and realizing their dreams.
We recognize that this vision is broad, ambitious, and larger than us. Via will not achieve this desired future alone, nor is it likely to come to fruition for many years. Still, we believe it a worthy dream to aspire to — and to be inspired by — as we pursue our mission.
Our mission is to empower people with disabilities and their families to grow, develop, and thrive by providing essential skill-building, therapeutic, and recreational programs.
Via is a deeply values-driven organization. Our core values are a powerful statement of who we are as an organization and our promise to our clients, families, and community.
Love: Love is the foundation of everything we do and is ever-present in our interactions with clients, our relationships with their families, and our engagement of our staff and the community.
Family: We form valued relationships with our families and their loved ones by understanding their needs and collaborating with each on their unique journeys of growth and development.
Trust: Your trust in us is essential; we strive to earn it every day by ensuring the safety and dignity of all those in our care.
Quality: We provide expertly designed, high-impact, life-changing programs and services.
Inclusion: We believe in, and actively promote, a community of diversity, equity, and inclusion that embraces all people and celebrates their differences.
Partnership: We actively seek innovative, value-added partnerships with other organizations to meet the needs of our clients, their families, and the community.
Big Questions (Strategic Issues)
Big questions are those opportunities or challenges to which an organization must respond. After an assessment of Via’s internal strengths and weaknesses as well as the opportunities and threats in its external environment, the Strategy Committee recommended that the Board consider four Big Questions:
How do we make Via West viable and sustainable (operationally & financially)?
How do we evolve our funding model, especially to increase earned income?
How do we evolve our funding model, especially to increase contributed income?
How do we enhance our infrastructure and operations to support programs, with a special focus on quality and safety?
Organizational Strategies in Response
With the focus on the above Big Questions, the following strategies were identified and tested. Even though actions will be taken on all strategies over the next 18-36 months, some actions will need to be phased in over time. Those details will be identified in the implementation plan to be created later.
Via West Strategies
Ensure quality, availability, consistency, and retention of staff.
Elevate the amount/type of training, support, safety protocols, behavior management, reporting, etc.
Explore alternative structures of camp leadership, staffing, scheduling, durations, programmatic offerings, participant/staff ratios, etc. Additionally, consider rentals/use groups, revisit rates, number of groups, durations, etc. to help cover the costs of camp.
Earned Income Strategies
Identify potential new programs that fit with our mission, values, and competitive advantages.
Identify alternative funding sources for programs (e.g., private pay). Additionally, reevaluate fee structures and funding sources for existing programs, expand their reach, etc.
Enhance Via’s visibility in the community
Contributed Income Strategies
Increase development resources, including hiring a new Director with expertise in major gifts and/or corporate donations and develop a fund development plan.
Clarify the fundraising role and build the fundraising capacity of the Board.
Enhance Via’s visibility in the community.
Infrastructure Strategies
Hire talented Program Director and Via West Director, focusing on staffing, management, and culture.
Develop staff onboarding and ongoing training and education program supported by clear policies and practices (e.g., transparent communication, etc.).
Additional Overall Strategy
Enhance Via’s visibility in the community. This strategy cuts across all Big Questions, enhancing workforce recruitment for Via West and other programs (existing and new) as well as supporting fund development efforts to increase earned and contributed income. It is a core component of organizational capacity that is tied to IT and marketing communications capacity, such as SEO, social media, etc.
Thank you so much to everyone that attended the virtual Via Ball on Thursday, May 20th. While it was certainly a different event than what we have become accustomed to, it was still such a fun evening! So many of you stepped up to show your support – our sponsorships were the highest they have ever been! Our Silent Auction also went above what we anticipated, so thank you so very much to all of our families, friends, and community partners!
Our Fund-A-Need goal was to raise $75,000 to reopen Via West Campus to in-person programs this September. Thanks to our match from Mike and Kathi Endris, we doubled the first $25,000 donated. We have currently raised $52,450, so we are well over halfway there. If you were unable to participate in the Via Ball but still want to give, we ask that you consider making a donation in the Fund-A-Need.
There is a simple 2 step process outlined below in order to sign up to donate. Please read through and then click the button for Fund-A-Need to learn more about how your gift can bring back camp to the hundreds of kids, teens, and adults with special needs that have so desperately missed it during the pandemic.
STEP ONE: Click on either of the boxes that read “GET STARTED”
STEP TWO: Click “CREATE ACCOUNT” to securely enter your contact and credit card information.
Once again, we sincerely appreciate your belief in our mission and the services we provide to our community. On behalf of the wonderful families we serve, please accept our heartfelt thank you.
At Camp Via West, COVID protocols are practiced to ensure the health and safety of campers and to reduce the risk of exposure to COVID.
Staff will test before the start of camp. Staff who test positive will be isolated or leave camp. All campers must take a rapid test when they are dropped off at camp. Campers who test positive will be sent home and will not be able to stay at camp. Staff or campers who have had a confirmed case of COVID in the last 90 days are exempt from this testing requirement. Campers should provide proof of recent positive test to receive the exemption.
Campers who test positive for COVID before arriving to camp may come to camp on days 6-10 after testing positive if the individual tests negative before they arrive OR they can come to camp on day 11 without a negative test. A camper who returns to camp day 6-10 will be asked to wear a mask as much as possible, except while sleeping. Note: Day 0 of infection is the day a person tests positive OR the day symptoms began, whichever is earlier.
Staff and campers reporting COVID-related symptoms during a camp session will be tested for COVID with a rapid test. Staff who test positive during a camp session will be isolated or can leave campus. Campers who test positive during a camp session will be isolated and parents/guardians are expected to pick up as soon as possible. When there is a positive COVID case during a camp session, all staff and campers who have not had COVID in the last 90 days will be tested as soon as possible.
