A strong component of the residential program at Valley Village is inclusion in the community. Valley Village prides itself on providing meaningful and enjoyable activities for all our residents and encourages each individual to participate to the best of her or his abilities.
Our recreational director/therapist ensures that all residents participate in activities beyond just home and work through Valley Village programs. Valley Village’s Saturday Program is one example. This program is community-based and capitalizes on all available opportunities for fun and leisure in the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area. The Saturday Program provides our residents with engagement opportunities in the form of community outings every Saturday. Some examples include attending festivals, street fairs, movies, plays/musicals, cultural events, car shows, museums, dances, ice cream socials, and many other outings. During these activities, our residents work on social interaction skills with peers, staff, and other members of the community. These activities provide residents opportunities to engage in exercise through walking, being active, and enjoying the outdoors. Valley Village also provides clients with aerobic exercise on Saturday mornings before heading out to the planned trip.
Valley Village also established two additional Saturday Programs – Community At Large and Super Saturday – that provide volunteer opportunities for members of the community to join our residents on various community outings and field trips. Super Saturday is hosted once monthly. Community At Large is hosted four times a year – once per quarter – and other agencies serving individuals with developmental disabilities are invited to join us, as well as members of the community who are not enrolled in a program like Valley Village.
In addition, Valley Village provides the opportunity for religious expression. Grace Community Church in Sun Valley has partnered with us for many years to allow our residents the ability to worship through their special ministries program and provide the chance to engage in a variety of weekly sports activities like basketball, soccer, obstacle courses, and other sports programs and games. Grace Church provides a camp called Grace Camp, where some residents are able to go on a four-day camping trip to the mountains.
Temple Bet Hillel provides our residents a chance for Jewish worship through their special Moses Program, giving our residents the ability to engage in Jewish activities such as Jewish prayer services, Jewish learning, and Jewish holiday parties.
Many of our homes have basketball hoops for playing basketball and a variety of sports equipment for residents to engage in activities they choose. Some residents go bowling, miniature golfing, or to local parks.
Valley Village also runs a social skills/game night program for all residents who choose to participate. The recreational therapist oversees this program and works with residential clients to help them develop and maintain social skills and peer interactions through a variety of modalities like games and activities.
Visit our Volunteer page to learn more about volunteer opportunities with Valley Village’s Recreation Program. Check out our most recent listings on VolunteerMatch.org. We post our current volunteer needs there. Please email Stephanie Almanza, Valley Village’s Development and Volunteer Coordinator, or call (818) 587-9450, if you’d like to volunteer! To get a head start, you can download our volunteer application here.
