acceptance
The Power of Inclusion: Celebrating Local Individuals with Down Syndrome in Swimming
At first glance, swimming may seem like a simple recreational activity or sport, but for individuals with Down syndrome, there is more to it than that. The joys and challenges of swimming on a team also shows the importance of integration and inclusion in sporting activities. It is still not commonplace to see our friends…
Read MorePartnership: Roschambo Eyewear & GiGi’s Playhouse Milwaukee
Roshambo Eyewear is excited to be a contributing partner of GiGi’s Playhouse nationwide. In its new program, Roshambo will donate 10% of all sales generated by GiGi’s Playhouse facilities and members back to the non-profit every month. In addition to the donation, Roshambo will also be offering a 20% discount to GiGi’s Playhouse members in support of their…
Read MoreGiGi’s Goes to Rainbow Day Camp, 2023
The first week of August, 2023 we took 10 participants of GiGi’s Playhouse to Rainbow Day Camp as a guest of the Jewish Community Center (JCC). Our participants spanned the ages of 10-18 and all have Down syndrome. Due to the supports put in place by our volunteers and prior camp coordination, our campers blended…
Read MoreTutoring – A Volunteer’s Perspective
This summer I had the opportunity to tutor a 7-year-old named Miles in literacy. I really enjoyed doing this and I think that the experience was definitely something I would do again. It was a little tricky getting Miles to focus on what we were supposed to do, but after trying different ways to get…
Read MoreParticipant Best of All: Baz – How his focus grew this summer.
Leaps and Bounds, I know here we go again, but wait it’s another kid doing great things, showing his Best of All…Seriously, this program has it all for our young learners! There is music for sing-a-longs with sign language to grow our communication skills, obstacle courses of all kinds to get the wiggles out in…
Read MoreNATIONAL VOLUNTEER WEEK
National Volunteer Week is the third week in April and we want to take the opportunity to THANK all of the volunteers who help to keep our organization running! Volunteers assist us in providing purposeful programs that otherwise would not exist at GiGi’s Playhouse Milwaukee. Volunteers make us smile just as much as the participants…
Read MoreWORLD DOWN SYNDROME DAY 2023
As World Down Syndrome Day approaches, I have a confession to make. I have never really understood if we were supposed to celebrate Down syndrome or spread awareness. Officially, WDSD was founded and officially observed by the United Nations in 2012 as a global awareness day. The 21st day of the 3rd month was selected…
Read MoreVolunteer Spotlight: Molly
Molly has been an MVP over the last year! She co-lead our Leaps and Bounds Program at the Playhouse starting last winter/Spring and has also stepped up to lead GiGiFIT Infants and Toddlers after co-leading it all of 2022. Molly is dedicated to helping our little ones with their movement and gross motor skills! Molly…
Read MoreBest of All: Caleb
Caleb joined the Playhouse to attend the Amina Grace Speech and Language Program this week and is already joining our other programming too! Caleb also attended Leaps and Bounds at Carroll University and had a blast playing with bubbles and dancing to different sing-along songs. He even tried new activities like making Play-Doh molds and…
Read MoreParent Perspective, What does GiGi’s mean to me?
Hi, my name is Becky Archibald. My husband Dave and I have a daughter named Caroline who is almost 2 1/2 years old. The first time that we went to GiGi’s was last year for cookies with Santa. I will never forget the first time that we went in. As soon as we walked in,…
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