{"id":142023,"date":"2026-04-04T08:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T13:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/desmoines\/?p=142023"},"modified":"2026-04-04T08:12:50","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T13:12:50","slug":"a-lookback-at-world-down-syndrome-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/desmoines\/uncategorized\/a-lookback-at-world-down-syndrome-day","title":{"rendered":"A Lookback At World Down Syndrome Day"},"content":{"rendered":"
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March 21st is World Down Syndrome Day and, for GiGi\u2019s Playhouse, it\u2019s the big deal. If all we had planned was our annual World Down Syndrome Day Party, that would be enough to get excited about. But we had so much more on tap. To get an idea, here are a few entries in Executive Director John Claes\u2019 diary from that day:

8:00 a.m. After doing a bit of setup for the GiGi\u2019s Playhouse\u2019s World Down Syndrome\u2019s Day party, I welcomed a crew from WHO Channel 13 News to do two live cut-ins during the Saturday morning Today in Iowa program.

8:15 a.m. Reporter Sklyer Stamps did a live interview with me and allowed me to talk about GiGi\u2019s Playhouse, our World Down Syndrome Day Party, and the other events taking place in the area.
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9:15 a.m.  Skyler gave a second live interview, this time with Mallory Keane and her adorable five-month-old son Marty.  Mallory talked about the experience of bringing a baby with Down syndrome into the world, \u201cbuilding her tribe\u201d and turning fear into the \u201cfiercest love\u201d that one could imagine.  And Marty behaved like the perfect gentleman. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Watch Skyler’s Interview with Mallory Here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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9:30    After the interviews, Channel 13 wasn\u2019t done reporting on World Down Syndrome Day.  Following live GiGi\u2019s Playhouse segments, WHO\u2019s Cinthia Naranjo sat down with two incredible women that we know quite well: Amber Robinson and Patty Sneddon-Kisting. In addition to being moms to kiddos with Down syndrome (Pierce and Addi, respectively), Amber and Patty serve on the GiGi\u2019s Playhouse Board and co-host a podcast called Chromosomes and Chaos<\/em><\/strong> (available wherever you get your podcasts).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Watch the WHO 13 Interview Here:<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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10 to Noon:    This year\u2019s World Down Syndrome Party was EPIC!  There were an estimated 200 family members gathered, and everyone had a blast! Everywhere you looked, there was something to do. We had a \u201cRock your Socks\u201d decorating station, music by DJ DAS, food from Hy-Vee, coffee from Friedrich\u2019s Coffee, music by DJ DAS, and Down syndrome merchandise for sale. Members of the Windsor Heights Fire and Police Departments came to join the celebration and even Crash, the Iowa Wild mascot, was on hand to party with us.  It was a fun and unforgettable event!<\/p>\n\n\n

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3:45 p.m.         After a short rest, I went to the Jordan Creek Barnes and Noble to spend some time with Jerod Garland, his wife Leah and daughter Cayla.  Jerod, as some of you may know, wrote a book called Shovels and Spades, a memoir about \u201ca father\u2019s journey parenting a spirited daughter with Down syndrome\u201d.  That daughter, Cayla, is now 17 and she is a beautiful young lady.<\/p>\n\n\n

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5:20 p.m.         By now, I was hungry and glad that Red Robin Gourmet Burgers was right around the corner. And fortunately, my family was free to join me, too, because Red Robin was doing a fundraiser for GiGi\u2019s Playhouse on World Down Syndrome Day. And we weren\u2019t the only ones to dine there and say, \u201cGiGi\u2019s Playhouse sent me\u201d.  We know, because the 20% give back from their day-long fundraiser raised over $800 for our Playhouse!! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nice way to end the day, wouldn\u2019t you say? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

March 21st is World Down Syndrome Day and, for GiGi\u2019s Playhouse, it\u2019s the big deal. If all we had planned was our annual World Down Syndrome Day Party, that would be enough to get excited about. But we had so much more on tap. To get an idea, here are a few entries in Executive…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23446,"featured_media":142032,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-142023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/desmoines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/desmoines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/desmoines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/desmoines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23446"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/desmoines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/desmoines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142023\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/desmoines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/desmoines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/desmoines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/desmoines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}