Our Programs

SCHOLARSHIPS

Become a Travel Club Sponsor!

This is a fun and exciting club for adults with developmental disabilities who live in the Goleta and Santa Barbara area and have an interest in travel.   Please contact us if you are interested in becoming a sponsor.

This is a club whose members are responsible for how it operates and what the programs will be. Over 60 travelers, friends, caregivers and parents have attended each meeting and enjoyed a delicious dinner and dessert. After dinner they listen to Travel Reports from club officers and members, discuss ideas for Day Tours, and enjoy an informative and entertaining Travel Program.

Benefits of membership:

  • Five fun Day Tours throughout the year
  • Reconnect with your travel buddies from past tours.
  • Make new friends.
  • Learn about travel & Have lots of fun!

The fastest growing and most successful program has been the Holiday Happiness Program. Dee Duncan started with one Holiday Happiness program in 1985. She noticed that many of the residents were being left behind at the care facility during the holidays, while their peers as well as staff were packing their bags for home. Dee decided to take those who had been “left behind” to Disneyland that year for Christmas. Holiday Happinessis a 4-day program offered annually in December to people living in care facilities in California. These persons are generally wards of the state or have been abandoned by their families.

Holiday Happiness consists of a series of two tours during the Thanksgiving and Christmas season, which includes the Fun Baja Cruise, and a Christmas program in Disneyland.  These programs offer a home-style holiday complete with deluxe hotel or cruise ship accommodations, gourmet meals, exciting destinations and dedicated staff and volunteers offering huge amounts of love and joy.  The Christmas programs also offer personalized stockings, gifts galore, beautifully decorated trees and visits from Santa!

Support our scholarship fund!

Thank you donors for enabling us to provide these wonderful vacations — a break in routine — for so many people who would otherwise never have this opportunity. Thank you for believing that people with disabilities deserve the same opportunities in life that others expect and enjoy. There are many happy travelers whose travel dreams come true each year because they were recipients of the scholarships made possible by the generous support of the Annenberg Foundation, Joseph Tassi Memorial Fund, Cecilie Taylor Memorial Fund, Phil and Sally Milano Memorial Scholarship Fund, Michael Vaughan Memorial Fund, Endue Foundation, Carl W. Johnson Foundation, and many other remarkable supporters like you! With your support, we are able to award over $100,000 in full and partial travel scholarships each year!

Please contact us if you are interested in donating to our scholarship fund.

Holiday Happiness


Scholarship Program

Travel Club

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New Directions for people with disabilities, inc. is a 501(c)(3) not for profit corporation. All donations are tax deductible. Federal Tax I.D. #77-0147768

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