GiGi’s Playhouse
Cheers to a Successful Summer!
Summer Recap We have so much to be proud of this summer! GiGi’s Madison welcomed 10 New Families and over 100 Returning Families during our last three months of programming. We’re serving more families, running more programs, and celebrating more ‘Best of All’ moments than ever before. During our Summer Session we were able to…
Read MoreWelcoming our newest board member- Sarah Berndt
Sarah Berndt- Board Member We are thrilled to announce that Sarah Berndt has joined our Board of Directors! Sarah is an active Playhouse mom who attends multiple programs with her daughter, Addi. Sarah and her family business are also key sponsors of our annual Gala. With Sarah’s business and marketing background she is a…
Read MoreSelf-Advocate Blog Inspiration
Blog Post by Self- Advocate Committee Co-Leader, Maya Greengus You are probably going to say these are jelly beans and ask what’s important about that. It’s more than two candies sitting on a desk. The colors signifies the point of what I’m writing about. Blue and yellow means to me that when you are…
Read MoreVolunteer Spotlight: A Fantastic Family
Fantastic Friends is a long-standing signature program offered at GiGi’s Playhouse Madison. Week to week this program offers a fun, purposeful social gathering for adults with Down syndrome, their peers, and community. This summer our Fantastic Friends group has been led by the incredible volunteer duo of Lottie and Lexi, along with some dedicated program…
Read MoreFitness Fun at the Playhouse
This Summer we kicked off our first in-person Teen & Adult Fitness program called GiGiFIT at our Madison Playhouse. GiGiFIT programs combine physical therapy with a strong fitness focus and goal of success and improved movement. With collaboration from Physical Therapists, we were able to design a curriculum that works to address common issues for…
Read MoreIntroducing Board Member- Jacob Donohue
Board Member- Jacob Donohue Jacob Donohue has been a part of our Board of Directors since January 2022. He is a Store Director at Festival Foods and currently oversees their downtown Madison location. He has worked for Festival for 15 years and has held a variety of different roles in many of their stores across…
Read MoreThank you to Julie Byrnes
Inspiring Leadership Julie Byrnes just completed her term as our Board President but that is just part of how she’s contributed to our Playhouse in the past four years. Julie is a Speech-Language Pathologist and learned about GiGi’s when our past Board President, Bill Henry, randomly connected with her on LinkedIn. She quickly fell in…
Read MoreIntroducing our New Executive Board
Incredible Leadership= Incredible Playhouse Our Playhouse is 99% volunteer run and some of our most active and impactful volunteers are our Board of Directors! At our June Board meeting elections were held for the 2022-2024 term and we are pleased to announce our new Executive Board. Kimberly Arndt was our Vice President and moved into…
Read MoreCelebrating Those Who Are Uncelebrated
A Tribute to Evelyn Charlotte Peters January 12, 1914- February 18, 1931 In May 2022, Cindy Hasse contacted the Playhouse to see if we would be interested in some quilts created by someone with Down syndrome. We jumped at the chance and were surprised by the incredible story that came along with these quilts. Cindy…
Read MoreWelcome to our Program and Volunteer Manager!
Welcoming a new staff member! After an extensive search to fill this very important role, we are thrilled to introduce our new Program and Volunteer Manager, Courtney Gamer. Courtney graduated from the University of Wisconsin- Madison in 2020 and has broad experience in Education, Administrative Operations and Environmental Studies. She comes to…
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