Making an Impact

Did you know that being in our Literacy or Math programs does not look like a school setting? Look at one of our participants learning in our current Spring session of Literacy!

WOW, what an amazing day!

Olivia is enrolled in the GiGi’s Playhouse, Literacy program in Fort Myers this session and has been blessed with an amazing volunteer tutor, Ann! Obviously, the two made instant connections – their names, both are from the Midwest and neither like cold weather. When they first met, Ann and Betsy, Literacy Coordinator, asked Olivia what she wanted to work on, what she is most interested in and what she wanted to learn about. Olivia told them she wanted to be a police officer and that she likes working on projects! These 2 fantastic volunteers put their heads together and began planning an unbelievable project! A few weeks ago Olivia and Ann began thinking of questions Olivia could ask a police officer, they read books and researched online about police officers. Last week Olivia & Ann made que cards with questions to practice asking because Betsy invited a Deputy from the Lee County Sheriff’s Office to come to her lesson and be interviewed!

Which brings us to today!

We pulled up at GiGi’s Playhouse and saw that Deputy Angela was already there in her cruiser! They sat down and casually talked to get to know one another. Olivia was able to sit in her cruiser and use the speaker and siren. Then they started the interview! Olivia was able to ask all of her questions with pure confidence and learn even more about what it is like to be a Deputy and how she can work towards achieving her dream job!

Olivia’s session doesn’t end here! She and Ann now have planned to create a presentation about all she has learned! I can’t wait to see how much Olivia learns in the second half of the session!

I can’t say it enough- Thank you, GiGi’s Playhouse, Betsy, Ann, Deputy Angela, Grace, and Emily for making the world a better place and for changing the way the world views Down syndrome!