Via Services opens new facilities in Cupertino
There are good things happening at Via West, the Cupertino campus that nonprofit agency Via Services uses for outdoor programs to benefit children and adults with developmental disabilities.
On Saturday, more than 75 kids with special needs were out riding horses at the new Linda L. Lester Equestrian Arena, which offers therapeutic riding and trail rides at nearby Garrod Farms. “It’s wonderful,” said
Linda Lester, whose funding of the center will allow for more than 1,000 horseback riding sessions this year. “I couldn’t help but get emotional when I saw this today because of the fact most of these kids would never even see a horse, let alone ride one, if it weren’t for Via.”
And Monday, Sobrato Family Foundation CEO
Rick Williams helped cut the ribbon on the Sobrato Center for the Performing Arts, the newest addition to Via West. The stateof-the-art facility is twice the size of the previous performing arts building, and it will act as home for the camp’s performing arts programs, sensory room, and tech center. It will serve over 3,200 participants a year in the Via West, Altitude and Special Needs Science Camp programs.
Sobrato organization founder John A. Sobrato joined members of Via Services Executive Director
Leslie Davis, members of the board of directors and Cupertino Mayor Savita
Vaidhyanathan at the event. FROM BELLARMINE TO ‘HAMILTON’: Actor Ryan Vasquez, who graduated from Bellarmine College Prep in 2010 and was well known to Children’s Musical Theatre San Jose audiences, isn’t missing his shot as a member of the touring cast for “Hamilton,” which is still packing them in at San Francisco’s Orpheum Theater.
Vasquez was able to pay a visit to his alma mater on May 16 to speak to students in two acting classes as well as engage in a lunchtime session in the school’s Sobrato Center for Humanities and the Arts with faculty member Russ Marcel.
If you want an example of advance preparation paying off, Vasquez told the students that to earn his role on “Hamilton” he had to learn 150 pages and 25 songs. He’d never even seen the show before he auditioned. Next up, Vasquez will be following the Tony Award-winning musical to Los Angeles in August after it wraps up its San Francisco run. SOCCER AND SUDS: The San Jose Earthquakes already have the largest outdoor bar in North America at Avaya Stadium, but for this Saturday’s match against the L.A. Galaxy, they’re turning the 7UP Epicenter into a beer garden.
Fourteen craft brewers will be pouring at the pre-game beer festival, which is being presented by Lagunitas and includes local favorites like Camino Brewing, Anderson Valley Brewing, Hermitage Brewing, Seabright Brewing and Tied House.
Ticket packages are available online for $45 and include a ticket to the 6:45 p.m. match, access to the beer festival at 4:30 p.m. and four 4-ounce tastings. Fans should enter the promo code BEER to purchase the package at www.sjearthquakes.com. A portion of sales will benefit the Quakes Foundation and Special Olympics of Northern California, and the Quakes’ Special Olympics Unified Team will face the Galaxy’s unified squad on the Avaya Stadium field following the big match.