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Classifieds

Publication Date: Friday, August 03, 2001

Kaleidoscope - a pattern of community caring

On a quiet residential street in Dublin, across from the Senior Center, sits a small, unassuming cluster of portables, the site of the Kaleidoscope Activity Center.

The yard, which sports a shady lawn area, play equipment, and tables and benches, is filled with children who are bouncing balls, maneuvering a remote control truck or just talking to each other. It's like an ordinary school playground.

Inside the portables, the walls are filled with photographs of joyful children and young adults. Comfortable couches frame an area with shelves of books and games, a tidy kitchen, and a television and stereo. Kids are playing video games and eating lunch.

"It's almost time for an activity, and then we're going to the park," says Kaleidoscope coordinator Nannette Carrillo, 23. "But first we have to do meds."

Carrillo chats and laughs with her young adult group as she discreetly passes out various medications. Then, one by one, the group of 16 to 22-year-olds repeat their "mantras," personal goals.

"Use nice words," Carrillo prompts one young man.

"Stay awake!" says one girl enthusiastically, and everyone giggles and claps.

"Keep my hands to myself," recites one young woman solemnly.

For the past 20 years, the Kaleidoscope Activity Center has provided a popular and well-regarded after-school and summer day camp program for developmentally disabled children and young adults ages 5 to 22, operating out of the small but complete center in Dublin.

While about 60 percent of the clients are residents of Pleasanton, Dublin and Livermore, the remainder are from San Ramon, Castro Valley and as far away as Alameda, said Regional Program Manager Ron Halog, who has been with Kaleidoscope for four years.

The center operated as a standalone nonprofit organization until three years ago, when it merged with Easter Seals, Halog said. The program got its start when local parents saw a need for care for children with such disabilities.

"Kaleidoscope was the brainstorm of local family members who wanted something in the Tri-Valley area for their kids," he noted.

Kaleidoscope's program is recreation-based, Halog said, offering everything from arts and crafts and cooking to sports and games. During the summer, the program runs from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.; during the school year from 2-6 p.m. Coordinators arrange activities for three different age groups: the youth group for ages 5 to 12; the teen group for 12 to 16; and the young adult group for 16 to 22.

"It gives the kids a safe place to go when their parents are at work," Halog said. "The parents don't have to be afraid of the children getting lost or hurting themselves. It gives the parents a respite, and the kids some physical activity."

Besides the activities offered at the center, the program stresses plenty of community interaction. Participants go on a minimum of two outings a week to locations all over the Bay Area, including Great America, Waterworld, Santa Cruz, the Oakland and San Francisco zoos, the Exploratorium and the Oakland Coliseum, Halog said.

"We do lots of community outings just like any other day camp program," Halog explained. "We make their lives a little bit more normalized."

Halog manages a staff of 13, which includes trained group coordinators and aides who keep the child/supervisor ratio at 5 to 1. Close supervision and personal care of the children and young adults is necessary, in light of the various disabilities, which range from mental retardation, Down syndrome and cerebral palsy to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Halog said.

The center, which is at its maximum licensed capacity of 50 clients, currently has a referral list of 25, he said.

"There are a lot of people who want to get into the program, but we don't have any room for them," Halog said. "We put them on the referral list and as soon as an opening comes up in their age group, we give those families a call and let them know."

Nearly all of the children and young adults who attend Kaleidoscope are funded through the Regional Center of the East Bay, a federal program that refers clients to the center. However, government assistance isn't always sufficient and outside help is needed, said Vice President of Development Michele Thompson.

"We receive most of the funding to run programs through the Regional Center," Thompson said. "But the state and federal support isn't enough to staff the program, especially with the high level that the program operates at and the supplies that we need."

Over the years, Halog said, the Tri-Valley community has been quick to step in and aid the center.

"We get a lot of support from the Lawrence Livermore Lab, Sandia Lab, and Clorox," he said. "The local churches have been phenomenal, the Pleasanton Presbyterian Church, St. Augustine, the Knights of Columbus. The Dublin Lion's Club and the mayor of Dublin have been very supportive. The mayor comes out and visits my kids - he knows my kids."

The value of community support for Kaleidoscope is crucial, Thompson said.

"This is the one single program like it in the Tri-Valley area, and it is a vital resource for parents who can't find care for their children," she said. "With the limited funding from the government, the community support we receive is critical to continue operation of the program."

For the children and young adults who attend Kaleidoscope, the center is like a second home.

"My favorite part is playing basketball, and I like listening to music," says Elizabeth, a Pleasanton resident who gives her age as 19. "It's fun here. I like having fun."