January 2024 Best of All

Every month we recap special happenings, events, and people that inspired us. We refer to these as Best of All moments. The recaps are featured in a report for our board and the national office. We will begin featuring them here on our blog so you can see all the amazing happenings and people that are involved with our Playhouse. Here are the 3 we chose from January 2024! Please know that sometimes it’s hard for us to narrow down the amazing things happening to just 3.

Participant Best of All

Christy arrived early for the first GiGi Prep date, and we asked her if she wanted to help get a few things set up. She was excited to help. She wrote out the welcome board with all the names and put their name tags on the board. When the others arrived, she was happy to show them all where their name tags were. We are so proud of Christy for participating in Prep this spring. She’s a fairly picky eater and hasn’t wanted to do prep past years because of trying new foods but she has given her best of all and has tried several new things!

Volunteer Spotlight

Colleen & Deb won the Volunteer of the Year award at the 2023 gala and if they’re not careful they may just get it again this year. They’ve both been instrumental in assisting with the GiGi Prep & Achievers programs this spring. Without their help, we would not be able to do this program. You may recognize them because they also volunteer to assist the group speech program for adults. They have become fast friends with participants, each other, and Ms. Ann too.

Playhouse Inspiration

You may have heard of the Penguin Project. It is an adaptive theatre group for individuals with varying abilities. It’s an inspirational project that many of our GiGi’s friends participate in. We are lucky to have a local Quad Cities chapter.

This spring was Gavin’s first time performing with this project. He’s been part of other local theatres but he’s finally old enough for the Penguin Project. Well, this is where Penguin Project meets GiGi’s. Gavin’s family personally invited our Site Director to the private dress rehearsal! Each actor was able to invite a special teacher, mentor, or someone that has had an impact on his life. He chose our Site Director because she and GiGi’s means so much to him. This invitation meant the world to her and in fact she cried because the invitation came at the end of an exceptionally long hard day. It was a gentle reminder that while the work is hard it is worth it!

YOU can submit your Best of All stories and moments too!

These stories are typically chosen by staff but we’d love to hear from you too! If you see or hear something worth highlighting, please let us know!

309-762-7529 or email quadcities@gigisplayhouse.org