{"id":15482,"date":"2019-06-05T11:57:02","date_gmt":"2019-06-05T16:57:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/twincities\/?p=15482"},"modified":"2020-06-24T20:34:18","modified_gmt":"2020-06-25T01:34:18","slug":"erin-long-volunteer-spotlight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/twincities\/uncategorized\/erin-long-volunteer-spotlight","title":{"rendered":"Erin – Volunteer Spotlight"},"content":{"rendered":"

Impact Story of GiGi’s Playhouse – Twin Cities written by Erin, Volunteer:<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

“Whenever Benjamin<\/span><\/span>,\u00a0<\/span><\/span>a little boy that attends\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Gi<\/span><\/span>G<\/span><\/span>i\u2019s<\/span><\/span>\u00a0Playhouse<\/span><\/span>\u00a0– Twin Cities programming,\u00a0<\/span><\/span>realizes that he\u2019s going to\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Gi<\/span><\/span>G<\/span><\/span>i\u2019s<\/span><\/span>, he hooks his fingers together like they are giving each other a hug. This is the sign for friends in sign language, and I think that\u2019s the perfect way to describe\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Gi<\/span><\/span>G<\/span><\/span>i\u2019s<\/span><\/span>\u00a0Playhouse: friends.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Gi<\/span><\/span>G<\/span><\/span>i\u2019s<\/span><\/span>\u00a0is a place for everyone, and it\u2019s a place that everyone needs. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I first started attending\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Gi<\/span><\/span>G<\/span><\/span>i\u2019s<\/span><\/span>\u00a0in the fall of 2017 because of the volunteer hours I needed for school, and honestly, I planned on volunteering there until I got my hours; however, once I set my foot in that building, I knew that\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Gi<\/span><\/span>G<\/span><\/span>i\u2019s<\/span><\/span>\u00a0was going to\u00a0<\/span><\/span>impact<\/span><\/span>\u00a0me for a very long time. I ended up spending my Thursday nights, my Friday nights, and my Saturday morning at\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Gi<\/span><\/span>G<\/span><\/span>i\u2019s<\/span><\/span>, and honestly, I wished that I could have spent the whole week there<\/span><\/span>!<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a place of laughter, love, and pure happiness. I look forward to going to\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Gi<\/span><\/span>G<\/span><\/span>i\u2019s<\/span><\/span>\u00a0and I dread leaving. I smile with the babies, I run around with the toddlers, I play tag with the kids, I sing karaoke with the teens, and I cook with the adults\u2013\u2013<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>oh, and I end up dancing with all of them. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Everyone at\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Gi<\/span><\/span>G<\/span><\/span>i\u2019s<\/span><\/span>\u00a0is amazing. I think\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Gi<\/span><\/span>G<\/span><\/span>i\u2019s<\/span><\/span>\u00a0is so fantastic because\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Gi<\/span><\/span>G<\/span><\/span>i\u2019s<\/span><\/span>\u00a0strives to make everyone feel comfortable, involved, and important, and I mean everyone. I came to\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Gi<\/span><\/span>G<\/span><\/span>i\u2019s<\/span><\/span> thinking I was going to help others feel comfortable and loved, but it was the exact opposite \u2013\u2013 <\/span><\/span>Gi<\/span><\/span>G<\/span><\/span>i\u2019s<\/span><\/span>\u00a0has made me feel so incredibly loved and special and important.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Gi<\/span><\/span>G<\/span><\/span>i\u2019s<\/span><\/span>\u00a0has transformed me and is an incredibly significant part of my life. I know it\u2019s incredibly significant for other people as well. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

At the Volunteer Appreciation Night, the adults from EPIC g<\/span><\/span>a<\/span><\/span>ve speeches about what\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Gi<\/span><\/span>G<\/span><\/span>i\u2019s<\/span><\/span>\u00a0means to them. I remember Brian gave a speech about how\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Gi<\/span><\/span>G<\/span><\/span>i\u2019s<\/span><\/span>\u00a0has changed his life and he didn\u2019t know where he would be without it, and he was crying, and the volunteers were crying, and I think that moment really captured what\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Gi<\/span><\/span>G<\/span><\/span>i\u2019s<\/span><\/span>\u00a0is: a life changing place where you will be loved, supported, and appreciated. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Everyone needs a\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Gi<\/span><\/span>G<\/span><\/span>i\u2019s<\/span><\/span>\u00a0in their life<\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>E<\/span><\/span>veryone needs a place where they dance their (<\/span><\/span>really bad<\/span><\/span>) dance moves and just have a great time.”\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Impact Story of GiGi’s Playhouse – Twin Cities written by Erin, Volunteer: “Whenever Benjamin,\u00a0a little boy that attends\u00a0GiGi\u2019s\u00a0Playhouse\u00a0– Twin Cities programming,\u00a0realizes that he\u2019s going to\u00a0GiGi\u2019s, he hooks his fingers together like they are giving each other a hug. This is the sign for friends in sign language, and I think that\u2019s the perfect way to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[183,180,179,176,178,182,181,177],"class_list":["post-15482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-appreciated","tag-friendship","tag-gettingmoreinreturn","tag-gigisplayhousetc","tag-givingback","tag-love","tag-support","tag-volunteering"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/twincities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/twincities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/twincities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/twincities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/twincities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/twincities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15482\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/twincities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/twincities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/twincities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}