iHeart Media Shines Light on GiGi’s Playhouse Portland

Stacey and Mike’s Helping Hands program explores new ways to support different nonprofits every month, and they’ve chosen GiGi’s Portland for March, 2023!

By Brad Johnston, Board President

In the Down syndrome world, the month of March is highlighted not by St. Patrick’s Day, but by World Down Syndrome Day on March 21st (3/21). This year, iHeart Media Portland is using its considerable platform to create awareness and support for Portland’s newest resource to the Down syndrome community: GiGi’s Playhouse Portland. Click here to learn more!

iHeart Media estimates that it reaches nine out of every ten listeners in the world as our nation’s #1 audio company. But it was the keen listening of iHeart Media’s Metro President, Marshal Burgess, that led to this moment. During a workout at his cross-fit gym, he overheard a conversation regarding the effort to bring GiGi’s Playhouse to Portland to serve our Down syndrome community. Thankfully for GiGi’s and our Portland area families, he stepped into that conversation with an offer to help.

During the week of January 23rd, iHeart Media Portland began airing a PSA that it produced and recorded for GiGi’s Playhouse Portland. (Click here to listen!)

The message is familiar to most DS families: “The pandemic and the crisis in special education is painful; the therapeutic, educational, social, and career needs of individuals experiencing Down syndrome are not being met; and GiGi’s Playhouse Portland is opening to help address these needs.”

This awareness campaign was only the beginning!

Starting March 1st, GiGi’s Playhouse was the featured nonprofit of the K103 Mike and Stacey’s Helping Hands Program. Read the blog here!

The popular morning hosts recorded their own PSA for GiGi’s Playhouse, and it is running throughout the month of March on all iHeart properties.

On March 2nd, they recorded a telephone interview with GiGi’s board president, Brad Johnston, and posted the interview to their various radio properties.

On March 21st, (World Down Syndrome Day) Mike and Stacey will host a Facebook Live interview with Nancy Gianni, Chief Belief Officer at GiGi’s Playhouse Inc. Portland, Oregon is a generous city that cares for individuals and families experiencing any condition that places them in the “margins” of health, education, and safety. We’re so grateful to iHeart Media Portland for shining their light on Down syndrome during the month of March.