What does OT have to do with it?
Eight occupational therapy (OT) students from St. Ambrose University had the opportunity to work with participants of GiGi’s Kitchen for 6 weeks. It was hosted at St. Ambrose in the Health Sciences building on Tuesdays from 5:30-7:00 pm. Over the course of the six weeks, the OT students worked with...
6 Ways YOU can make a difference!
Spring has spring and so have a number of volunteer opportunities here at GiGi's! We are 99% volunteer run and rely on a wide variety of volunteers to make all the programs and events possible. Quad City Cruisers Car Shows GiGi's has been chosen as one of the charities to...
2 Speech Goals = Best of All
You may recognize Amelia from many of our social media posts. She gives us some of the best video opportunities and smiles. Last week Amelia MET TWO OF HER SPEECH GOALS! Amelia has been working hard at creating longer phrases, having better speech sounds and recently began using an assistive...
Destination Discovery – Sports
This spring we held a 6 week Destination Discovery - Sports series. Each week was focused on learning the basics of a new sport. We touched on basketball, soccer, volleyball, frisbee, kickball, and pickleball. The attendance each week varied from 5 - 10 participants plus siblings, parents, and volunteers. Speaking...
7 Highlights & 170 people! WDSD 2023 Recap
World Down Syndrome Day 2023 took our Playhouse by storm! It began on March 18th with an awareness/celebration event held at Augustana College that hosted 125+ people enjoying bingo, b-bop (aka dancing), bake walk, tie dying socks, and so much more. This event was made possible thanks to our Augustana...
It’s not just cooking!
We piloted the GiGi's Kitchen program during the COVID shutdowns back in 2020/2021 and we're able to virtually see our participants getting more comfortable in their own kitchens at home. The kitchen program is now one of GiGi's signature enrollment/application based programs being offered across the GiGi's network and we're...
World Down Syndrome Day 2023
World Down Syndrome Day is March 21st. It is celebrated on 3.21 to align with the 3 copies of the 21st chromosome that causes Down syndrome. GiGi's loves to celebrate World Down Syndrome Day and we want you to join us! This is also a day to spread awareness and...
Love Our Team – Pam Lynch
The final post in our Love Our Team series is for our Site Director. She has been with the Playhouse for almost 7 years. Many don't know that she applied for the Program Coordinator position in 2015. She interviewed but did not get that position. She was however drawn in...
Love Our Team – Ann Cobb
Last but not least in our Love Our Team series, we are showing some love for our staff members. As many of you may know, we only have 2 paid staff members! While they have assigned job duties, they also know each others jobs fairly well in order to fill...
Love Our Team – Lydia Olson
Lydia Lydia comes to us from the Quad Cities Music Therapy Center. We appreciate Ms. Misty our LMNOP leader introducing her to us. Many of our teen and adult participants will recognize Lydia as she has led our summer music/drumming programs! We asked Lydia is she had any advice for...
Love Our Team – Michael & Kate
Michael and Kate are not only adult participants of GiGi's programming they also serve as self advocates on our board and often as ambassadors providing tours and information to visitors at the Playhouse. Michael and Kate have both been involved with programming since the beginning (2011). Michael Michael Michael graduated...
Love Our Team – Elizabeth, Isabella, and Diana
Earlier in this Love Our Team series we highlighted 3 interns from St Ambrose. We also have 3 interns from Augustana this spring! Please meet Elizabeth, Isabella, and Diana! We asked each of them to complete an interview to tell us a bit about themselves and what they are looking...