{"id":141795,"date":"2025-07-17T15:34:59","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T20:34:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/deerfield\/?p=141795"},"modified":"2025-07-17T15:34:59","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T20:34:59","slug":"brians-great-life-2024-gala-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/deerfield\/2025\/07\/17\/brians-great-life-2024-gala-speech\/","title":{"rendered":"Brian’s Great Life – 2024 Gala Speech"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Hi, My name is Brian Rogala, I am 36 years old and I have Down syndrome. There are a few important things that I think you need to know about me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have a GREAT life!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Brian and Christine Dancing at the Gala<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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I have a beautiful girlfriend named Christine who I have been dating for 8 years! Christine and I met and had our first date at a GiGi\u2019s gala! We have been through a lot together and I love her very much, I hope to marry her one day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also have an amazing family who love me very much. They are the most important people to me. I am an awesome uncle and love watching my niece and can\u2019t wait for the new baby to come. My mom does a lot for me, making sure I get to all of my activities on time, and I am a very busy guy. My Dad is my hero, I love and miss him. I know he would be super proud of me tonight.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

I have a job working at Gerry\u2019s Caf\u00e9<\/a> in Arlington Heights, you should come visit me some time. I work really hard, I want to learn more about the bakery side of things one day. I have big goals for my future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I have a lot of really great friends. My friend Shannon works with me at the playhouse and is my partner in crime. \ud83d\ude0a We have a lot of fun at programs at GiGi\u2019s Playhouse and have made a lot of friends. I help plan our adult programs here so we have a good place to hang out and fun things to do like Karaoke, Club nights, cooking and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Down syndrome means we have some disabilities but we are there for each other and help each other out. But we are also capable of doing a lot of things! I have such a great life and wouldn\u2019t change anything about myself except to maybe be a better cook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hope you can help us to change the way the world sees Down syndrome so we can help more kids grow up to be awesome adults like me and so I always have a place to go be with my friends and learn new things.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Brian and Shannon Receive a Proclamation from the Village of Deerfield in Honor of WDSD <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Join us at our 2025 Gala and be part of something truly meaningful.<\/strong> Your presence supports Brian\u2019s inspiring mission and helps ensure the Playhouse continues to thrive for generations to come. Every dollar raised directly funds the life-changing programs we proudly offer\u2014completely free\u2014to our families.<\/em> Learn more about our Gala, donate or purchase your tickets <\/em>here<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Brian’s 2024 Gala Speech<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Brian Confidently Speaking at the 2024 Gala<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Brian Accepting the 2024 Nonprofit of the Year Award<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi, My name is Brian Rogala, I am 36 years old and I have Down syndrome. There are a few important things that I think you need to know about me.<\/p>\n

I have a GREAT life!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":164,"featured_media":141801,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wpo365_audiences":[],"wpo365_private":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[473,475,10,7,465,461,468],"class_list":["post-141795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-acceptance","tag-advocacy","tag-down-syndrome","tag-gigis-playhouse","tag-speech-and-language","tag-therapy","tag-volunteering"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/deerfield\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/deerfield\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/deerfield\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/deerfield\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/164"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/deerfield\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/deerfield\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141795\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/deerfield\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/deerfield\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/deerfield\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/deerfield\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}