{"id":26738,"date":"2021-08-18T15:04:31","date_gmt":"2021-08-18T19:04:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/raleigh\/?p=26738"},"modified":"2021-08-18T15:04:31","modified_gmt":"2021-08-18T19:04:31","slug":"talking-all-things-gigis-with-elizabeth-a-committed-participant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/raleigh\/talking-all-things-gigis-with-elizabeth-a-committed-participant\/","title":{"rendered":"Talking all things GiGi’s with Elizabeth a committed participant!"},"content":{"rendered":"

ALL things GiGi\u2019s with Elizabeth H<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If you are a frequent visitor of GiGi\u2019s Playhouse Raleigh then you have probably met Elizabeth Heenan, a 37-year-old woman with Down syndrome who is a very active member of GiGi\u2019s! She has been volunteering and participating at GiGi\u2019s Playhouse Raleigh since 2017! We wanted to learn more about her experiences here, so we decided to have a chat, just us girls! Nicolette Moinet from the National Office, Caroline Tate from the Raleigh Playhouse, and Elizabeth all sat in a circle with Shania Twain playing in the background to talk <\/span>ALL THINGS GiGi\u2019s!\u00a0<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We started\u00a0chatting about\u00a0a program that she is weekly participating\u00a0in:\u00a0<\/span>Speech 1:1.<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0\u201cI am\u00a0currently working hard on\u00a0my\u00a0S sound, Th sound, R sound, and Z sounds during speech,\u201d she says with pride.\u00a0\u00a0With speech\u00a0enabling\u00a0participants\u00a0to have one-on-one time with the\u00a0graduate students + licensed SLP,\u00a0she can\u00a0practice more and its\u00a0\u201csimpler with only two people\u201d says Elizabeth.\u00a0\u201cRight\u00a0now,\u00a0I am reading\u00a0New Moon, and\u00a0Dr.Tom\u00a0(SLP)\u00a0is my favorite, but I love all my friends.\u00a0They\u00a0ask\u00a0my sounds and I like speech because it helps me to speak clearly\u201d she says.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Elizabeth\u00a0then went on to tell us about how she\u00a0volunteers\u00a0in\u00a0many different ways\u00a0in the Playhouse.\u00a0She participates\u00a0in\u00a0Moon Angel Sweets\u00a0brigadeiro\u00a0classes, where this summer she spent time with other participants and volunteers making chocolate truffles!\u00a0https:\/\/moonangelsweets.com\/\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As a\u00a0<\/span>Kids club<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0volunteer,\u00a0she\u00a0helps\u00a0both in person and\u00a0with\u00a0the virtual program\u00a0where\u00a0she encourages\u00a0our school age friends (ages 6-12)\u00a0as they\u00a0color, do show & share\u00a0and\u00a0play\u00a0bingo.\u00a0\u00a0She absolutely loves\u00a0playing\u00a0<\/span>handbells<\/span><\/i><\/b>, because the\u00a0program is a new hobby. Our handbells program\u00a0consists\u00a0of the program\u00a0leader holding color coded\u00a0cards and\u00a0each participant has a color of the handbell, they play the handbell that matches the color shown on the cards. She\u00a0holds her bells up and she watches for her color that signals her to play her bell.\u00a0Her favorite moment of the handbells program was the 2021 outside performance,\u00a0\u201cLots of people\u00a0came to\u00a0watch us outside and\u00a0my\u00a0whole family\u00a0watched\u00a0the group play handbells.\u00a0When I\u00a0play,\u00a0I\u00a0feel happy, and others\u00a0who are watching\u00a0feel happy also.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She is not only a hard worker, but she has a big personality that we adore having around at GiGi\u2019s\u00a0Playhouse Raleigh! She loves to sing Shania Twain and Backstreet Boys. Her favorite person is her\u00a0Mom\u00a0and Dad\u00a0who are also very involved in GiGi\u2019s. Her favorite\u00a0meal is\u00a0corn, mashed potatoes, and steak. She is always ready to give hugs and cheer us on.\u00a0She also loves GiGi\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>Yoga<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0program and\u00a0<\/span>21 stars\u00a0program<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0which is\u00a0a program that enhances social\u00a0skills\u00a0so our participants are confident speaking in public and in community settings with or without peers.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Elizabeth\u00a0then told us about her\u00a0favorite part of volunteering at GiGi\u2019s\u00a0which is\u00a0writing\u00a0cards in our<\/span>\u00a0gratitude committee\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/b>where she thanks donors and volunteers for all they do\u00a0at the playhouse. \u201cI\u00a0love\u00a0helping my community.\u00a0I tell my friends that I love GiGi\u2019s. I\u2019m a part of the programs and I get help here.\u00a0My friends at GiGi\u2019s are kind, and the classes make me strong and healthy,\u201d\u00a0she says.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She wants the community to know that she is very smart and loves people. She is a hard\u00a0worker,\u00a0and she is incredibly proud of the work she does here.\u00a0She helps\u00a0staff\u00a0when there are admin needs. \u201cI give tours at GiGi\u2019s, and we are all working alongside each other, both staff and volunteers.\u00a0<\/span>I call it teamwork!<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Thank\u00a0you, Elizabeth,\u00a0for all the joy you bring to the Playhouse and all the ways you\u00a0support the Raleigh community!\u00a0You are an incredible woman!\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBe happy everyone, because then you feel good about the world.\u201d- Elizabeth Heenan<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ALL things GiGi\u2019s with Elizabeth H\u00a0 If you are a frequent visitor of GiGi\u2019s Playhouse Raleigh then you have probably met Elizabeth Heenan, a 37-year-old woman with Down syndrome who is a very active member of GiGi\u2019s! She has been volunteering and participating at GiGi\u2019s Playhouse Raleigh since 2017! We wanted to learn more about…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1487,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wpo365_audiences":[],"wpo365_private":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[435,436],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-best-of-all","category-advocacy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/raleigh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26738","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\/1487"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/raleigh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26738"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/raleigh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26738\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/raleigh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/raleigh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/raleigh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}