ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, March 9, 1996 TAG: 9603110018
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: CRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: ROBERT FREIS STAFF WRITER
Leisure Directions sounds more like the name of a travel agency than a social services organization.
Both have clients that take trips designed for their recreational value. Leisure Directions' are just closer to home.
The proper name of this little-known, low-budget, high impact program is the New River Agency for Persons with Mental Retardation. It leads its clients to simple pleasures - like bowling, playing basketball or learning how to cook - that most take for granted.
Mentally disabled people have the same need for fun as anyone else, except more so, the program's directors say. Statistics indicate one person in four with a mental handicap suffers from depression; isolation can play a significant negative role in the lives of people with such handicaps.
That's where Sheila Roop, the program's director, and her cadre of volunteers lend a hand. "People with disabilities need a break, too. We try to strike a balance," she said.
Ask David Miller. Taking a sideline break as fellow clients and program counselors vie for basketball supremacy, the Christiansburg resident smiled and said having fun and meeting people were the best things about Leisure Directions programs.
"I've been doing just about everything they have to offer," he added.
Miller and others were intently practicing at the Blacksburg Middle School gym for the state Special Olympics basketball tournament. The atmosphere was like that of any other team at tournament time, alternately raucous and serious, with two teams scrimmaging while other players focused on fundamentals.
"The athletes, they're so much fun to be around, so much energy," said Jamie Reckis, a Virginia Tech student and volunteer basketball coach.
Roop says that's typical of the various Leisure Directions programs, from fishing to crafts to volleyball, and the 150-200 clients who participate. "We have fun. But it's so much more than having fun."
Mentally retarded adults often work part-time jobs, or are unable to work at all, and typically have hours of unfilled time.
Many lack opportunities to mix with their peers or anyone else outside of their families or group homes. Roop says only one or two of her clients have a driver's license.
Leisure Directions acts as their social secretary, with day and evening events involving fitness, crafts and life skills. The program also runs a summer day camp, dances and holiday parties.
All clients are adults, each challenged in a different way, from mild or severe mental handicaps to head trauma and Down syndrome. Of all age groups among the mentally handicapped, adults are the most likely to be overlooked, Roop said.
The program operates on a shoestring, with clients paying a nominal fee for participation or supplies, or if indigent, nothing at all. Leisure Directions is a private, nonprofit organization with an annual budget of about $50,000.
That comes from the organization's share of annual donations to local United Way annual fund drives and a some individual donations, not government funds. Leisure Directions has a volunteer governing board; Roop is the only full-time employee.
"We get a lot of bang for the buck," she laughed.
Most of the expenses involve transportation costs. It's expensive to rent vans and pay drivers, but that's generally necessary to gather Leisure Direction clients and get them to the activities.
"It really doesn't matter what's available in the community if you can't get there," Roop said. Outlying Giles and Floyd counties don't generate many clients because of higher transportation expenses.
Leisure Directions tries to maximize efficiency and suppress expenses by conducting cooperative programs with other organizations, such as Special Olympics and local recreation departments, and by using volunteer counselors, many of whom are college students.
Radford University graduate student Dave McPherson is the Special Olympics' area coordinator and the supervisor of the Leisure Directions basketball program. He's watched the participants' skills improve on and off the court over the past three years.
"I just enjoy doing it," he said.
"It makes you feel better to get out with people and socialize," said client John Dickey, a Blacksburg resident who also helps out with coaching.
The gymnasium's happy din underscores Dickey's point. Roop, program director for about 18 months, said participation is growing steadily, even though Leisure Directions isn't well known, even within the local social service community.
"I know there are people out there we don't know about, and we need to reach."
Reckis said working with Leisure Directions has broadened her attitudes toward people with mental disabilities.
"It's a really good group of people. It made me realize they have feelings just like us. Sometimes we just forget about that."
LENGTH: Medium: 98 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ALAN KIM/Staff. 1. At Blacksburg Middle School,by CNBcounselors and clients of Leisure Directions practice for the
upcoming state Special Olympics basektball tournament. 2. John
Dickey goes for a basket while counselor Jamie Reckis keeps an eye
on the ball. color.