For this month’s service day, on Friday, August 17th, we visited Gigi’s Playhouse of Raleigh to interact with and empower individuals with Down Syndrome.
Our team enjoyed the experience from start to finish. We helped with a program called “Destination Discovery”, which encourages the development of fine motor skills, gross motor skills, social skills, and language through purposeful play and peer-to-peer interaction, all in a casual and fun environment. Teaming up with We Raleigh the program seeks to not only help those with Down Syndrome but bring families together to share meaningful experiences and build long-lasting relationships.
At the start of the day, our team members were each assigned an activity to lead. Each activity was “bug themed”, although they weren’t quite the type of bugs our team members likes to deal with!
The Gigi participants loved all of the activities we completed, but a few of their favorites were definitely Bug Bingo, making “Popsicle Dragonflies”, and Spiderweb Introductions. Spiderweb Introductions involved sitting in a circle and tossing yarn to each person in the circle. When a person was tossed the yarn, they had to briefly introduce themselves, and when everyone was finished, we were all “wrapped in the web”! It wasn’t just the Gigi participants loved the games and activities, our team did too!
Gigi’s Playhouse is a great organization with missions to empower people with Down Syndrome, helping them reach their highest potential using research-based curriculum and methods. Their free programs advance literacy skills, math skills, gross and fine motor skills, build self-esteem, improve muscle tone, and so much more, while encouraging acceptance and awareness within both families and the community. The programs ultimately provide educational, therapeutic, and even career-building opportunities to those with Down Syndrome and their families. For more information about Gigi’s Playhouse of Raleigh, or to sign up to volunteer, visit https://gigisplayhouse.org/raleigh/.
Due to Gigi’s Playhouse of Raleigh’s inspiring mission and impact within our community, they will be a partner of ours at our annual Wrap it in Red holiday party this year on December 7th. Our holiday event will help provide items, supplies, or donations to further Gigi’s incredible mission.