Thank you to Nancy Gianni, the Founder and visionary leader of GiGi\u2019s Playhouse Down Syndrome Achievement Centers, and her daughter GiGi, for attending our Dance-A-Thon!\u00a0 \u00a0GiGi rocked her speech and Nancy moved the crowd to near tears when she called for true acceptance, not just awareness, of Down syndrome.<\/p>\n We thank everyone who registered, created a team and attended the event:<\/p>\n Colin \u201cCB\u201d Baar,\u00a0Emma and Kelsi BFFs By Birth,\u00a0GiGi-A-GoGo,\u00a0GiGi\u2019s Danceathon ,Groove is in the Heart,\u00a0Need More Cowbell,\u00a0Rising Phoenix,\u00a0Sammy’s Dancers,\u00a0St. Viator Girl Scout Cadettes,\u00a0SUPER TROUPERS!, Tacos Tacos & Party,\u00a0Team Bee,\u00a0TEAM MOLLY,\u00a0Team OMG,\u00a0The A Team,\u00a0The Havin A Good Times<\/em><\/p>\n Awards GO TO………<\/strong><\/p>\n We could\u00a0 not have done the event without the leadership of our event co-chairs, Jo Dee Walsh and Colleen Rock Mueller — THANK YOU!\u00a0 We also thank the committee members:\u00a0 Mae Skoglund, MIchelle Maurer, Carrie Chase, Grace Gibbs, and Amy Archer.<\/p>\n Our day-of volunteers were amazing and did a terrific job of setting-up, selling raffle tickets, checking-in guests, and much more.\u00a0 \u00a0Your support is truly appreciated.<\/p>\n – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –<\/p>\n Our Dance-A-Thon donation page will remain open until October 31.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n You may be able to increase the impact of your donation to GiGi\u2019s Playhouse. Many employers sponsor matching gift programs to match charitable contributions made by their employees. Gifts from retirees and spouses may also qualify for a match. To check if your company DOUBLES your Impact, go to gigisplayhouse.org\/company-match<\/a>!<\/em><\/p>\n GiGi\u2019s Playhouse is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization funded solely by donations.\u00a0\u00a0FEIN # 45-0648741.\u00a0Your gift is tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Get Down With Down Syndrome 2017:\u00a0 A Fun Filled Afternoon of Dancing and Inspiration! The 2017 Get Down With Down Syndrome Dance-A-Thon was a success on many levels.\u00a0 With nearly 300 people in attendance, it was our largest event to date!\u00a0 \u00a0We raised over $31,000 and contributions are still rolling in through matching donations, friends…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-127034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gigisplayhousechicagogetdownwithdowsyndrome","category-gigisplayhousechicagoevents"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127034\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/chicago\/files\/2017\/10\/lucy-and-gigi.jpg\")
<\/a>We have so many people to thank for making this event such a success!\u00a0First and foremost, thanks to our partner DePaul College Prep for graciously hosting the event. A special thanks to Mary Dempsey, President of DePaul College Prep and Flo Merkl-Deutsch, Director of Mission & Values, for being our champions in our efforts to grow the event.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0We look forward to a long-lasting relationship (and great news, we’ve been invited back for next year).![\"\"](\"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/chicago\/files\/2017\/10\/gigi-jack-nancy-flo.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nThank You to Our TEAMS!<\/h2>\n
Our top five fundraising teams include:<\/em><\/h3>\n
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Thank You to Event, Gold, Silver and Bronze Sponsors!<\/h2>\n
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<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\nThank You to In-Kind Sponsors<\/h2>\n
<\/a>We had over $7,000 in in-kind donations for this event!!\u00a0 \u00a0 Where to start?\u00a0 \u00a0A huge shout out to our fantastic DJ, Tony Gonzalez (aka Tony GOGO)!\u00a0 He would love to host your next party.\u00a0 \u00a0We LOVED having Picture Day<\/a> at the event and their photo booth photos are the BOMB!!\u00a0 \u00a0Two additional photographers, Courtney Scheimann and Jerry Alt<\/a>, both donated a full day of their event photography service.\u00a0 Sandra from Take Me Away<\/a> did the amazing balloon columns, arches and centerpieces.\u00a0 Thank you to GoGo squeeZ<\/a>, Skinny Pop<\/a>, Trader Joe’s<\/a> and Costco<\/a> for the water and healthy snacks.\u00a0 \u00a0 Chicago Event Graphics provided the amazing backdrop with the GiGi’s Chicago logo on it for the photo booth.\u00a0 \u00a0And last but not least, a big thank you to Fast Signs – West Loop<\/a> for printing our 2017 posters and to Triumph Books<\/a> for drafting and sending press releases.<\/p>\nThank You to Our Raffle In-Kind Sponsors
\n<\/a><\/h2>\nThank You to Our Volunteers!<\/h2>\n