Our Donors are our Miracle Makers!

Last weekend, we welcomed our top donors to the Playhouse for a Donor Appreciation Open House and Tea to recognize their tremendous support of GiGi’s Playhouse Nashville. As an organization that is 100% privately funded, our donors are our miracle makers. The event included sweet treats and a short program to demonstrate how GiGi’s has put those donations into action.

To kick off the event, we introduced our first ever GiGi’s Ambassadors, Andrew and Mary Margaret. They will serve as the face of GiGi’s Playhouse Nashville throughout 2018 and participate in GiGi’s events, which include speaking with donors and community sponsors. This new specialty ambassador program is designed to help participants increase communication skills through team building and public speaking, as well as increase self-esteem and confidence through goal-directed learning. In their first official duties as ambassadors, Mary Margaret introduced each speaker and Andrew delivered a speech about his favorite programs at the Playhouse, his job with the Nashville Predators (through an employment partnership with GiGi’s), and why he loves GiGi’s.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHBgNqJ7mSM&w=560&h=315]

Janea Rayborn, Site Manager, shared some of the organization’s recent accomplishments, both locally and nationally, including the successful 2018 Gala. She also shared the testimony of Hannah, an initially shy and timid program participant who excelled in the EPIC (Empowerment, Participation, Independence, & Community Involvement) adult program and became the first GiGi’s participant to earn a job through the organization’s employment partnership with Taziki’s Mediterranean Cafe.

To conclude the event, donors were invited to add their name or company logo to our donor wall. The donor wall recognizes donors and corporate sponsors who have donated $2,500 or more to the Playhouse throughout the year.

Thank you to our 2017-2018 donor wall corporate sponsors: Atema Partners; Bedroc; BMC; The Brett Boyer Foundation; Cavan; Change Healthcare; Cisco; Cognizant; Dell/EMC; EDGE Solutions & Consulting; FCM; HCA/TriStar; Innova; NetApp; Nissan; Nissan of Cool Springs; PSAV; and World Wide Technology.

Thank you to our 2017-2018 donor wall individual donors: The Babu Family; the Bayham Family; the Bellin-Rodriguez Family; the Bryan Family; the Clouser Family; Dan & Elizabeth Dickens; the Dickens Family; the Hedge Family; Katie Kowalski; the Montenegro-Sloan Family; the Morse Family; the Powers Family; the Ramaiah Family; the Simpson Family; the Stacy Family; the Stacy Family; the Tedder Family; in loving memory of the Hustek Family and Sadie Brett Boyer.

We had an absolute blast recognizing our donors. Thank you to everyone who came out to celebrate!

Extra thanks to Frosted & Sprinkled for providing delicious desserts and Jessica Whitaker Photography for capturing all of the special moments from this event!

For more information about GiGi’s, visit our website HERE. To make a donation, please click HERE.