One month down, a lifetime to go!

I can’t believe we’ve already been open for a month, and what a month it’s been!  

Grand Opening 

We opened on May 16th and had between 400-500 people turn out for the festivities. We had special guests Roseville Mayor Krista Bernasconi, GiGi’s founder and Chief Belief Officer Nancy, and the inspiration for it all: THE GiGi. Plus we had Anna and Elsa. We also had food vendors Maria’s tacos, Pasta a la Mode, Good Jo Coffee, and Kona Ice,  tours of our beautiful center. Best of all, we got to be together!  It was an absolutely beautiful day! 

Vandalism 

Less than a week after our Grand Opening, three of our beautiful Welcome Windows were vandalized. This hit us hard. After three+ years of hard work to open our Playhouse, it was a gut-punch to have someone spew hatred and ignorance all over our labor of love. But, as they say, out of the ashes beauty will rise, and boy, did it rise! 

Community Response 

We had an outpouring of support from the community in the days following the attack. We received emails, calls, letters, and visits from people letting us know that they care about GiGi’s and our mission. At one point, our Site Manager Extraordinaire, Kim Cheers (who lives up to that last name in every sense!) literally had a line of people waiting to talk to her at the Playhouse! People dropped off supplies, cash, check, and in-kind donations, signed up to volunteer, and sent messages of support for the families of the children whose pictures were defaced. 

Bayside Church paid for the vandalized images to be replaced. Avalon Printing and Graphics was there replacing them the morning after we ordered them! Then, just a few days later, Bray Group – Windshield Skin donated and installed anti-graffiti film on all 12 of our Welcome Windows. That way if this type of thing happens again, the images won’t be ruined. We are so grateful to all of you; every bit of love and support we have received has helped to mend our broken hearts bit by bit. 

Police Response 

On top of all that support, Mayor Bernasconi and the Roseville Police Department took the vandalism very seriously. The Roseville PD classified the matter as a hate crime and assigned Detective Jason Pruette to the case. He came to the Playhouse to follow up after Kim made the initial report. He also canvassed the neighboring businesses to gather evidence. Lo and behold, he was able to get footage from one of the neighboring businesses’ cameras! 

And here’s the amazing part: AN ARREST HAS BEEN MADE! Detective Pruette contacted Kim a few days after he first spoke with us and let her know that they were able to identify a suspect from the video footage he pulled. It’s now up to the DA whether the person will be prosecuted.  

Acceptance Challenge 

Two weeks after the vandalism happened (and just three weeks after Grand Opening), on Saturday, June 5, was the GiGiFIT Acceptance Challenge. We hosted a Field Day at Kaseberg Park in Roseville. It was the perfect embodiment of the GiGi’s mission and purpose: To change the way the world views Down syndrome and to send a global message of acceptance for all.  

After the event, I was sitting at the Playhouse talking to Board Member and Event Chair, Ashley Lasiter, and her hubby Joey. We were all so pleased with how well the event went! Our event organizers had so many teen volunteers asking them when we were planning our next event. Get this – they didn’t want to miss the sign-up! One young man even asked if we could do another Field Day later in the summer.  He said it was the best day of his life! 

Takeaway 

While GiGi’s may be a Down Syndrome Achievement Center, providing FREE purposeful programming to individuals with Down syndrome of all ages, the biggest impact we make might just be on our volunteers. This got me thinking about the Ripple Effect graphic that was unveiled at the GiGi’s National Convention in November 2019. I wholeheartedly believe that the ripples that we are creating at GiGi’s will reach far beyond our loved ones with DS’s lives, and I think that is so beautiful. 

Call to Action 

The GiGiFIT Acceptance Challenge is a month-long call to action and the ask is simple. All we ask is that you take the pledge to accept all people, regardless of race, gender, diagnosis, sexual orientation, or religion, and say, “I can and will accept you as you are.” It’s that easy! Just go to www.iacceptyou.org.  

Programs 

Somewhere in the middle of all this excitement, our Programs Team, headed up by Karen Siino and Danielle Conforti, launched and delivered several programs. So far, we’ve launched LMNOP, Fantastic Friends, and GiGiFIT Teen. Next, we will be launching Playhouse Pals (tomorrow!), Kids Club, and Teen Tastic. 

Volunteers 

Of course, none of these programs would be possible without our amazing volunteers, since GiGi’s is 99% volunteer-run. If you’d like to sign up to volunteer, you can do so here. And, while we’re talking about volunteers, I’d like to take a moment to gush about the inimitable Nancy Adams!  

Nancy came to us quite by chance. She happened to be out and about and noticed one of our “coming soon” posters. When she got home, she looked us up and liked what she saw, so she signed up for an online volunteer orientation. I’m not sure how much time elapsed between her orientation and her first day volunteering, but she showed up just a couple of days before Grand Opening and she took the Playhouse by storm! 

To say that Nancy can do anything would be the understatement of the century! On her first day, she put together an ikea cabinet, mounted a bathroom mirror, cleaned floors, and went to Home Depot for supplies – TWICE! She also helped fellow volunteer, Katie Landmark, put up all the gorgeous pictures of our kiddos on our hallway walls (they even used a level!). Then she came back the next day! And the next day… and the next day! I asked her on her third day if it was too soon to give her a “Volunteer of the Year” award; I was only half-joking!  

But all joking aside, we truly love our volunteers; whether you’re multi-talented and able to put in lots of time, like Nancy, or you have more limited time and a specific skillset to share with us. We will welcome and love you all! 

Okay, okay… I’ll wrap it up!  

Okay, this got really long, really fast! There was just so much to fill you in on; it was an eventful month. So, if you hung in there with me, thank you! And just in case you didn’t… TL;DR: We opened, got vandalized, everyone was nice to us, they caught the guy, we had a super fun Field Day, we want everyone to be accepted, launched lots of programs, and we love our volunteers. Whew!  

See you at the Playhouse! 

 Nicole