THE 61st Playhouse: GiGi’s Portland is Ready to Serve the Community!
In life, nothing happens overnight. Before a significant achievement, milestone, or modicum of success can be reached, days, months, and even years of hard work and determination must be put in.
Our newest Playhouse, GiGi’s Playhouse Portland is a testament to this idea. Opening on September 28, our Portland Playhouse will be welcomed into the GiGi’s family as our 61st Playhouse, as well as our first Playhouse in Oregon, and we couldn’t be prouder!
But like anything in life, GiGi’s Portland did not come together overnight. The journey to create our Portland Playhouse was a labor of love, determination, and willpower. The Portland Startup team officially started nearly SEVEN YEARS AGO. The group was formed by parents of children with Down syndrome who saw the incredible value of GiGi’s Playhouse and became determined to bring one to Portland. They built momentum, but like everything else in the world, their efforts had to hit pause when the pandemic struck in 2020.
But in 2022, the Portland Startup team regained momentum when Brad Johnston and his wife Niki joined. They had been supporters of the Portland Playhouse from the start, as the two are proud grandparents to nine incredible grandchildren, including Jack, who was born in 2019 and has Down syndrome.
As a grandfather, Brad was incredibly impressed by GiGi’s Playhouse FREE educational, therapeutic, and career development programs. But beyond that, Brad was drawn to the sustainable and replicable business model that GiGi’s Playhouse offers. With 40 years of experience managing and leading companies, Brad has applied his expertise since joining the Startup team as Startup Lead in 2022!
Since then, the Portland team has achieved a variety of milestones. This year, the Portland Playhouse raised over $91,000 for their GiGiFIT Acceptance Challenge (GFAC), making it our fifth largest GFAC fundraiser across our entire network of Playhouses — and this was done without a brick-and-mortar location! Additionally, since June 2022, the Startup team has doubled their outreach efforts and raised more than $500,000!
As the Portland team built awareness, more and more people throughout the city became informed of GiGi’s Playhouse, our FREE programming, and our sustainable business model, successfully replicated across the nation. As more people learned about GiGi’s, they came to the same realization:
Portland needed a GiGi’s Playhouse!
Brad and the rest of the Startup team have worked tirelessly to mobilize the entire community, bolstered by the credibility of the GiGi’s Playhouse network, and their efforts have paid off. The Startup team secured a brick-and-mortar location, began construction in early May, and is now ready to serve the entire community with our FREE programming!
Brad is now the President of Portland’s Board of Directors. Thanks to the determination of Brad, Niki, the entire Portland Startup team, countless parents, grandparents, and various members of the community, GiGi’s Playhouse Portland will change countless lives!
Want to be our 62nd Playhouse? Click here to find out how, with the National Office’s support and proven roadmap to success, you can create a legacy that lasts a lifetime and bring a GiGi’s Playhouse to your community!
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