A Year in Review!

2024 has been an exciting and busy year for GiGi’s Playhouse Southern Tier! Take a look at the highlights from over this year, and see how we’ve grown and served more families than ever before!

January– Grand Re-opening! We shut down our Vestal Parkway space at the end of 2023, and moved into our new space in the Oakdale Commons with just enough time to get our new space ready and re-open to the public at the start of 2024! We started the year off with 223 families in our database.

February– All group and one-on-one programs up and running! Welcoming new families and volunteers into our space everyday! We hosted a Valentines Day party and were honored to be a recipient of the Athletes 2 Athletes fundraiser. Now we have 251 families in our database!

March– GiGi’s Playhouse was invited to be in the Binghamton St. Patrick’s Day parade! We also celebrated World Down Syndrome Day on 3/21 with a collection drive from ME High School, Woolx donating 21% of their earnings from the day, and a big celebration at the Playhouse! We added 30 new families in the month of March!

May– In May, we celebrated 5 years of being open to the community! We also hosted the annual GiGiFIT Acceptance Challenge, where over 400 supporters joined us at Otsiningo Park to move for acceptance! We wrapped up our session based programs and got ready for some summer fun! By the end of May we had reached 328 families in our database.

July– During July, we invited our families to Arnold Park for a Summer BBQ! We LOVE seeing families with individuals of all ages come together. We also hosted GiGi’s Playhouse very first Dog Show N’ Tell!

August– In the month of August we held our 4th Annual ‘Swing for Acceptance‘ Golf Tournament, where we had over 20 teams golf ‘fore acceptance! To end the summer, we held a Talent Show, where our participants could show off their beautiful and unique talents! We ended the summer with 369 families in our database.

September– With the beginning of a new school year, we resumed our session based programs like GiGiFIT Teen and Adult and our GiGi’s Kitchen Cooking classes! We were invited to submit artwork to the LUMA Peg Johnston Living Lights Program, and the artwork was shown to tens of thousands of viewers in Downtown Binghamton! We also revived our Teen Tastic program this month and met so many new teen participants!

October– After a long awaited time, we hired an official Volunteer and Program Coordinator! Adding a second staff to our team has allowed more opportunities and outreach for our 397 families. Our goal is to better serve our families and run a safe and efficient Playhouse! We appreciate you, Liz!!

November– November is our most packed month each year! We held our 6th Annual ‘i have a Voice’ gala, where we welcomed 400 guest to enjoy raffles, a live and silent auction, and a night of inspiration. This year we raised 104k from this amazing event! Following the gala, our team of staff and Board Members attended the National GiGi’s Playhouse Conference in Chicago, where we joined together with all 61 Playhouses for educational sessions.

We are ending the year with over 432 families in our database, a full 209 more than we began the year with! We are overwhelmed with the support we were met with this year from our donors, volunteers, and families. We know there is still work to do, and we hope to continue to add families into the GiGi’s Playhouse family in 2025!