Being part of the GiGi\u2019s volunteer family has been a wonderful experience.\u00a0 I knew I wanted to give back and I wanted to find a way that I could do that without having deep pockets.\u00a0 Don\u2019t get me wrong, GiGi\u2019s needs those that donate funding, but GiGi\u2019s allows me to give me and not just a financial donation.\u00a0 \u00a0I have volunteered and donated to other organizations and still do, but GiGi\u2019s is different.\u00a0 \u00a0It is a family.\u00a0 You find people who you can relate to that have a common goal \u2013 to help normalize Down syndrome, educate others and to be there to help those that need it in the community.\u00a0\u00a0 I have found that I enjoy working with the participants and the other volunteers that participate in the many different programs.\u00a0 When I participate either for me personally or for my business, I find that I GET BACK JUST AS MUCH AS I GIVE.\u00a0 It may be a hug, a handshake or just interesting information from another\u2019s perspective; I always leave with a fuller heart and a smile on my face.<\/p>\n
I also enjoy participating in the volunteer opportunities with my children.\u00a0 I have 2 daughters ages 14 and 13 that both participate when they can.\u00a0\u00a0 This gives us opportunity to give back together to the Down syndrome community and build lasting relationships.\u00a0 GiGi\u2019s is a second family to us.\u00a0 A family we chose to be a part of and that gives us great joy and happiness.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
GiGi\u2019s is helping to make life altering impacts on the lives of those it supports, the participants and their families.\u00a0 The changes I have witnessed in many of the participants in the programs are wonderful.\u00a0 Growth in many of those that I interact with includes improved reading, new cooking skills, something as simple as the willingness to try new things or maybe even just be in a different room than a family member.\u00a0 Overall, the programs, the volunteers, the very calming environment gives each individual a place to try new things, accomplish new goals and to do that with a ton of support from their GiGi\u2019s family.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Being part of the GiGi\u2019s volunteer family has been a wonderful experience.\u00a0 I knew I wanted to give back and I wanted to find a way that I could do that without having deep pockets.\u00a0 Don\u2019t get me wrong, GiGi\u2019s needs those that donate funding, but GiGi\u2019s allows me to give me and not just…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":115,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-generationg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/raleigh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/raleigh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/raleigh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/raleigh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/115"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/raleigh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/raleigh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12101\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/raleigh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/raleigh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/raleigh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}