February 2021 Best of All!

Each month we look back on the previous month and choose 3 stories to share with our board and the national office.

We also highlight many of them on the Best of All Wall here at the Playhouse!

Here’s a look back at February 2021!

Participant Best of All: 

This Best of All Moment goes to all of our GiGiFIT Toddler participants: Pax, Amelia, Lincoln, Emma, Leah, and Lauren! Emma gets the honor of saying she attended the most sessions out of all the participants. She only missed 2!

We can’t thank all the parents/grandparents for participating and assisting their loved ones in all sorts of different moments and activities. We are so proud of our friends for working their hardest during this 12-week program to achieve their Best of All especially with the program being held virtually! 

We would also like to spotlight the 3 amazing volunteers that made this program possible!

Thank you, Paige, Josh, and Kayla!

Volunteer Spotlight:

Emily is a senior at St. Ambrose University studying behavioral neuropsychology and graduating in May of 2021. She is also pursuing minors in Spanish, biology, and sociology. Emily found her passion for working with individuals with disabilities in high school when her brother was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. During the summer, she works for Northern Will County Special Recreation Association as a program assistant and adult day program staff. She is currently waiting to hear back from a few graduate programs as she would like to continue her education in clinical neuropsychology. She is heavily involved on campus as a tutor, the president of St. Ambrose’s psychology club, the community service chair for their campus activities board, and the sponsorship chair for St. Ambrose’s Dance Marathon. She also spends her time creating fun and interactive events for Special Olympics Iowa athletes in the surrounding areas as president of their Teaching and Promoting All Disability Awareness (ADAPT) club.

While at GiGi’s Playhouse, Emily will be assisting in the facilitation of education and activities for Playhouse participants. She is excited for this opportunity in order to broaden her knowledge and understanding for her future career as a pediatric clinical neuropsychologist. Emily is currently working as a Literacy Tutor and is helping to co-organize and oversee a spring dance program.

We know the students that these two are tutoring are going to have successful sessions and we can’t wait to see some of our school-age friends participate in the dance program that they are planning.

Playhouse Inspiration (Donor, Outreach, Event, etc.):

A couple of dedicated grandmas (Donna H and Carol O) donated items via our Amazon Wish List! These learning materials will be put to great use right away in the math tutoring sessions. We’re so excited to have them and our participants will be too! We had another grandma make a generous monetary donation via her small business (Coral S) recently too! Our GiGi’s grandparents are AMAZING!