GiGi’s Chicago: Furnishing our New Playhouse

This past year, GiGi’s Playhouse in Chicago underwent an expansion to help meet the needs of our growing community.  Our previous space was small and did not have the proper furnishings needed to implement our free educational and therapeutic programming to individuals with Down syndrome.  When it came time to furnish the newly expanded space, we were short funds.  We did not want to delay the re-start of our programs so decided to use our previous plastic, child-sized tables and chairs.  It was not the best option, especially for our older students and tutors.

Until we met Kevin…..

One of our board members put us in touch with Kevin and Michelle at Sheridan Contract.  Sheridan Contract is a manufacturer’s representative for commercial, educational, & healthcare furnishings located in the Merchandise Mart.  Kevin responded immediately and after a visit to our playhouse they provided us with more than we could ever expect!  Kevin reached out to a few of his manufacturers to help us out.

Kevin donated four new tables for our learning labs, perfect to tutor students of all ages.  Our family welcome area has an amazing Groupe Lacasse sectional, and the wall-mounted ledges that are perfect for our education station and parent resource center.  Via Seating provided us with 50 stackable chairs that are able to accommodate individuals of all ages. Finally Falcon gave us a very generous discount on the custom made upholstered benches that are located in our crawlers area.  

And there’s more…….

Just this week, Kevin and Steve Cohen (the Corporate Vice President of Falcon) delivered and installed a banquette that they generously donated to our playhouse.  All said and done, because of these amazing individuals and businesses we received over $60,000 in furnishings!    

We will forever be grateful to Kevin and Michelle Sheridan for helping us furnish our playhouse.  Because of them we now have a functional and beautiful space!

#generationG #BeGenerous #BeKind #BeAccepting