{"id":68649,"date":"2014-04-15T07:24:04","date_gmt":"2014-04-15T11:24:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/syracuse\/?p=68649"},"modified":"2014-04-15T13:09:49","modified_gmt":"2014-04-15T17:09:49","slug":"68649","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/syracuse\/uncategorized\/68649","title":{"rendered":"Always moving forward"},"content":{"rendered":"

Change. it can be so exciting, a little challenging but is always necessary. We are excited to have a big change in the Playhouse Board of Managers. Our amazing founding president Ally has stepped down after serving this community with a mighty passion. Spearheading and blazing a trail with other committed families to open the doors of GiGi’s Playhouse in 2012. Our talented friend Janet has resigned from the spot of board secretary and has accepted the role of board President. We are excited to see how she will continue the work of creating a strong and healthy board.<\/p>\n

We asked each woman to share a bit about their passion for GiGi’s so let’s turn the “mic” to them.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

STEPPING DOWN, BUT NEVER FAR AWAY…<\/span><\/p>\n

47, 3, 21 and 63 once were just numbers with no real significant meaning behind them. However;\u00a0 four years ago those numbers became 4 of the most important and special numbers with so much meaning and future attached to them! All because of my beautiful, smart, and full spirited little girl.<\/span><\/p>\n

I remember like it was just yesterday sitting in my living room talking to Randi Downs and Chris Byrnes about this place called GiGi’s Playhouse and how cool it would be if only we lived in an area that had one. Soon after, I met Mary Carroll who also knew about GiGi’s Playhouse; all three wished there was one here and that’s all I needed to hear! The next days were full of research on our area and could we really, REALLY make this work. October 2011, I made the call to National asking what I needed to do to bring GiGi’s to Syracuse.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The first of many steps was to gather a group of people together that were passionate and committed to the vision and mission of the Playhouse. Filling the board with parents is the way many playhouses start, but seeking affluent and diverse members of the community is instrumental in achieving success.<\/span>
\nI brought together what would later become the founding board members of the Syracuse Playhouse. Together we raised the initial $15,000 to become our own LLC. Thanks to our families for believing in our children and most of all to the Allyn Foundation and the Reisman Foundation who took a leap of faith in only what I was presenting to them on paper because they too believed in our “dream” and wanted to help make it a reality.<\/span><\/p>\n

A wise women recently said to me…<\/span>
\n“No one person has ‘ownership’ on the success of the playhouse; everyone who contributes and sees the happiness it brings each child or young adult with Down syndrome owns it – and WE owe it to each other to be kind to and respectful of each other’s gift and contributions.” That said, my hopes for the future of the playhouse is that it continues to grow with meaningful programs that help our loved ones reach the highest of potential. The board allows this to happen as they guide rather than lead and let our volunteers and committees work their magic as they equally educate, inspire, and believe in the future their tomorrow’s.<\/span><\/p>\n

Founding President of GiGi’s Playhouse-Syracuse<\/span>
\nAlly Donofrio Proud mom to Addison<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n
I started this journey in December 2011, when a group of parents met to discuss the possibility of bring a Gigi’s Playhouse to Syracuse. It has been quite a journey since then. I think about the reasons that I got involved then and why I continue to this day. \u00a0Our daughter Amelia is just one of those reasons. She is 3 1\/2 years old and is not much different than any other child her age. She works hard to reach her goals and sometimes takes a little longer to do so, but eventually will make it.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
Our goals when we started were to open a center where children, parents and family members alike can feel at home with people who know and understand you and are there for your on this journey. A center where you can get a little extra help where you need it. \u00a0Those goals are still the same today, but as I start as the new president of the board of managers, my focus now is to see that our center has the organizational structure and strategic plan to see us well into the future. Sounds like pretty dry work, but necessary for us to continue in this community for generations to come.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Janet LaSalle<\/span><\/div>\n
President -GiGi’s Playhouse Syracuse\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\"Change\"<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
Ladies, on behalf of all of us who come to play, volunteer, call scared with questions about what the future holds, we thank you. We thank you for the work you do that no one see’s and for the hours of time spent creating and maintaining a healthy wonderful place for us all to learn and grow. \u00a0Please feel free to leave Ally and Janet a message here in the comments section, I know they would love to hear from you.<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

educate. inspire….Believe<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Change. it can be so exciting, a little challenging but is always necessary. We are excited to have a big change in the Playhouse Board of Managers. Our amazing founding president Ally has stepped down after serving this community with a mighty passion. Spearheading and blazing a trail with other committed families to open the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/syracuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/syracuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/syracuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/syracuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/syracuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68649"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/syracuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68649\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/syracuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/syracuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/syracuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}