Meet Richard, Evan, and Ike
Three high school students from North Shore Country Day School recently selected GiGi’s Playhouse Chicago for their Senior Service Project. As part of the project, each student is required to plan, prepare and complete a 60 hour service project during a two-week period in May.
Richard, one of the three seniors who volunteered, explained why he wanted to volunteer at GiGi’s:
“What really impressed me about GiGi’s was that its mission had two purposes. One of course is providing services to people with Down syndrome, but what also really made me want to volunteer was the overall goal of changing the country’s attitude about Down syndrome. It seemed really important to do both.”
What did they do?
They did it all! We had a lot of projects and finishing touches to complete since re-opening in January in our newly expanded playhouse. They were able to complete a long list of tasks:
- Installed shelving in our Get Fit Gym . We now have great storage for our therapeutic equipment we use during our programs!
- Hung bulletin boards by our sign-in kiosk and near our family welcome area.
- Cleaned, rearranged, and organized our basement storage area. We now have a fully functional storage space and can easily locate what we need.
- Fixed the curtain rod on our stage.
- Assembled an IKEA storage cabinet. Believe it or not, they even came back the next day!
- Hung pictures, plaques and awards on the wall.
- Removed several old computers from the basement, cleaned the hard-drives, and took them to an appropriate donation drop-off location.
- Met new friends. They had a blast getting to know our families during our 2 & Under program.
- Produced a virtual tour of the playhouse. Check it out below!
We loved having Richard, Evan, and Ike volunteer at GiGi’s. We wish them the best as they head off to college this fall.
