Moving for Acceptance

On June 5th our Playhouse and community came together to celebrate the hard work of so many who joined in the network wide social MOVEment for acceptance called the GiGiFIT Acceptance Challenge!

Our Madison Playhouse is one of 54 physical playhouses across the US and Mexico and as and entire community we came together to bring awareness to the Down syndrome community and had thousands pledge to say “I can and will accept you as you are”

For the last few months we have had people form teams that raised awareness for someone they love with Down syndrome and raised money for our Playhouse to allow us to continue providing the free, educational, therapeutic and career development programming.  Each person that donated to one of our teams showed their belief that people with Down syndrome are capable and important members of our communities.

For our inaugural event, we planned a Field Day Acceptance event.  There were 15 different activity stations that allowed people to move their bodies and have fun.  It was a hot day but that didn’t stop our 30 volunteers and 100 community members from having lots of laughs and smiles!   Our activities including a dance party, run by some of our self-advocates, an obstacle course, snag golf, a frisbee toss, jump ropes, rock paining and hopscotch.  There was something for all ages and abilities.

We couldn’t have created such a fun event without the support of our sponsors and volunteers who all believe in the importance of acceptance!

Our sponsors included Park Bank, CI Pediatric Therapy Centers, One Community Bank, Van Holten’s Pickles in a Pouch, LSM, UW Health|Unity Point Heatlh|Quartz and The Healthy Place.

We can’t wait to see what our 2022 event brings! While this year’s event is over, our mission of raising awareness and acceptance never ends. You can always join us by visiting  http://www.iacceptyou.org and choosing the Madison Playhouse to support.