\u201cDo you have a child with Down syndrome?\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n These are questions I am asked all the time. I do not have a child with Down syndrome, but my cousin, Amelia, is one of our\u00a0<\/span>rockstar<\/span>\u00a0participants and her mom, Janet, was one of the found<\/span>ers<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>of<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>GiGi\u2019s<\/span>\u00a0Playhouse Syracuse. This is how I first learned about Down syndrome and\u00a0<\/span>the amazing work\u00a0<\/span>GiGi\u2019s<\/span>\u00a0Playhouse<\/span>\u00a0does for the community<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I have had a love for giving back and volunteering for many years.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>I volunteered<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>throughout college<\/span>\u00a0both on and off campus. A<\/span>fter graduating<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0my\u00a0<\/span>job in telecommunications<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>encouraged it and gave us time off to do so. Life eventually got very busy and I was not able to volunteer much at all. When I took a few years off to be a stay-at-home mom (middle school is <\/span>really hard<\/span>!), I dove into the PTA at both the elementary and middle school<\/span>s<\/span>\u00a0my kids went to.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In 2016<\/span>, my mom<\/span>\u2019s health was on a roller coaster and after some time she<\/span>\u00a0passed away. That left a<\/span>\u00a0huge<\/span>\u00a0void I needed to fill with something to occupy my time<\/span>. I started researching organizations that I could volunteer with when the kids were in school but that my family could\u00a0<\/span>volunteer with\u00a0<\/span>as well.\u00a0<\/span>GiGi\u2019s<\/span>\u00a0quickly hit the top of my list. We first volunteered at a couple of events<\/span>\u00a0that summer<\/span>, then I made my way into the playhouse with Gratitude Committee and Open Play. I realized very quickly how much I love being at the playhouse and how much love and comfort I felt being around the incredible indivi<\/span>d<\/span>uals that\u00a0<\/span>participate in the programs.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n About a year later, I said to my family that I would love to work at <\/span>GiGi\u2019s someday<\/span>. Whether it was a coincidence or my mom giving me a shove, a couple of days later, the Site Coordinator job became available. I jumped at the chance to be a part of this community<\/span> and haven’t looked back.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n I can honestly say this is by far the most rewarding “job” I have ever had. It is so hard to call something you love doing <\/span>on a daily basis<\/span> a job. A challenging day is so quickly turned around by one of Sarah\u2019s jokes<\/span>, a smile from\u00a0<\/span>Zoey<\/span>\u00a0or<\/span>\u00a0a hug from Jake or\u00a0<\/span>Amy<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0Seeing them achieve their #<\/span>bestofall<\/span>\u00a0and sharing those moments with them, makes every day better than the last.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>I encourage you to come<\/span>\u00a0in to\u00a0<\/span>volunteer<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and soak up all the\u00a0<\/span>GiGi\u2019s<\/span> goodness. You will never realize you were missing something so special and will wish you found it sooner!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Oh, and thanks for the push Mom!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sara LaValle<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Site Coordinator \u2013\u00a0<\/span>GiGi\u2019s<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Playhouse<\/span>\u00a0Syracuse<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cHow did you get\u00a0involved\u00a0with\u00a0GiGi\u2019s\u00a0Playhouse?\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cDo you have a child with Down syndrome?\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0 These are questions I am asked all the time. I do not have a child with Down syndrome, but my cousin, Amelia, is one of our\u00a0rockstar\u00a0participants and her mom, Janet, was one of the founders\u00a0of\u00a0GiGi\u2019s\u00a0Playhouse Syracuse. This is how I first…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":167,"featured_media":88386,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[306],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/syracuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88384","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\/167"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/syracuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/syracuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/syracuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/syracuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/syracuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/syracuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/syracuse\/files\/2018\/05\/Amelia-300x200.jpg\")
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