2023 Volunteers of the Year!

The Volunteer of the Year Award allows our community to recognize and celebrate volunteer(s) who have gone above and beyond in their volunteer service within the GiGi’s Playhouse Wausau community. The purpose of this award is to honor volunteer(s) whose dedicated service has had a significant impact on the Playhouse.  In 2023, the Playhouse experienced significant growth and this growth would not have been encouraged and sustained without the dedication of Amanda Vollendorf and Donald Baumgartner.

As the only staff of a growing non-profit organization, I was able to depend on Amanda and Don whether it was program related, community event related, or fixing all things broken related at the Playhouse!  

Amanda has been a volunteer since May 2021, logging over 200 hours! She leads the Fantastic Friends program, creating all the fun and engaging lesson plans. She helps out in kitchen programming as well. Amanda does a lot outside the Playhouse including serving on our outreach committee and is often the creativeness behind various family and community events.

Amanda is always someone that I can count on to understand the visions/ideas that are often in my head I have for various projects as well!

Donald has been a volunteer since January 2022, logging over 285 hours! He is a volunteer that does NOT like to be in the limelight, therefore volunteers in various programs to simply help out and be a extra set of hands. Donald is one of the most patient and go with the flow volunteers!

Donald also is our handyman, fixing and building many of the visions/ideas I do have! I can call him and explain what is needed and the response is always “we will figure it out!”

2023 was a busy year, with significant participant growth and various large projects/events within the community and I could not have coordinated and completed what was needed without Amanda and Donald! Thank You! Thank You to all volunteers for making 2023 amazing!

Erica, Playhouse Manager