Awareness
Volunteer Spotlight: Nick Doyle
If you are from the Northeast Ohio area, there is a good chance that you have heard of Nick Doyle, AKA the Big Dog. Nick is a busy guy around Stark County; he has been involved in so many different programs and networks that we are lucky to have a piece of his time. Nick…
Read MoreBest of All: Brenna
Meet Brenna! Brenna has been counting down the days to her birthday (August 29th) and now that it has passed, she deserves something else to celebrate…so let’s celebrate a Best of All moment with her! Brenna is an active participant in many of our programs, from GiGiFIT to GiGi’s Kitchen, we see Brenna multiple times…
Read MoreCouch to 5k
It’s time to lace up your sneakers and get moving for the GiGiFIT Acceptance Challenge on Saturday, May 21st! We wanted to provide tips, recommendations, and motivation from Northwestern University Recreation to help you prepare for this year’s 5K. What is a Couch to 5K? A Couch to 5K is a training program designed to help prepare beginners…
Read MoreGiGi’s Playhouse Down Syndrome Achievement Centers & Roshambo Eyewear Partnership
Roshambo Eyewear is excited to be a contributing partner of GiGi’s Playhouse nationwide. In it’s new program, Roshambo will be donating 10% of all sales generated by GiGi’s Playhouse facilities and members back to the non-profit every month. In addition to the donation, Roshambo will also be offering a 20% discount to GiGi’s Playhouse members in support of…
Read MoreTeeny Tiny Pieces
“When Lucie was entering Pre-Kindergarten, I wanted her classmates to understand better why Lucie looked a little different, didn’t have many words, and might have a tougher time with learning, so I started ordering books in pursuit of the best one to share with the class. While there are a number of great books for…
Read MoreDevelopmental Disabilities Awareness Month and WDSD
March is Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month AND we’re celebrating World Down Syndrome Day (WDSD) on 3.21! We’ve compiled a list of some books that are great options to send to your child’s school about inclusion and acceptance: “You Matter” – Christian Robinson “Dreamers” – Yuyi Morales “Happy Right Now” – Julie Berry & Holly Hatam…
Read MoreLeadership, Learning, and “The Lucky Few”
Earlier this month we closed the Playhouse doors to the public for one week, and one week only in order to learn new and innovative ways to best support our community. The 2021 GiGi’s National Leadership Conference was a tremendous success! We cannot wait to implement all we learned to make our local Playhouse even…
Read MoreDear Medical Professionals
In my opinion, I was lucky that we had a birth diagnosis. If you ask Tim he would disagree – he would have rather known ahead of time. But in a Facebook group, I just read about a parent pregnant and not enjoying her pregnancy because of the repeated urging of doctors to not have…
Read MoreDefining Down Syndrome
“Down Syndrome – It means different things to different people. For me, the meaning has evolved over the years as we’ve journeyed through life with Maylee, my 12-year-old daughter. When Maylee was born, Down syndrome was a “Curve Ball”. We didn’t learn that Maylee had Down syndrome until the day she was born. I remember…
Read MoreCongratulations, Joe and the Class of 2021!
As the 2021-2022 school year starts, we want to take a moment to recognize our recent graduates and #inspire students to achieve their #BestOfAll this year. We are so proud of our friend Joe and other Class of 2021 graduates! Joe was able to benefit from GiGi’s At Home virtual literacy and math tutoring this…
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