GiGi’s Playhouse— The happiest place in Rochester BY DAWN KELLOGG
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Winter 2022 | 585kids.com
Photos provided
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t’s hard to imagine a happier place in Rochester than GiGi’s Playhouse. GiGi’s Playhouse Down Syndrome Achievement Center serves children, adults, and their families from diagnosis at birth to adulthood. It’s a fun, colorful, and engaging environment in the Village Gate area where kids and adults with Down syndrome can play, learn, and interact with each other and where parents and families can gather, share stories, and support each other. It’s an inspirational place where families can celebrate their child and benefit from free programs that unleash joy, confidence, and continuous improvement. Founded in 2003 by Nancy Gianni in a suburban Chicago strip mall, GiGi’s playhouse was named after Gianni’s daughter, GiGi, who was born with Down syndrome in 2002. Seeing the lack of support and resources for parents and families of kids with Down syndrome, Gianni created a place to make dreams come true. There are now fifty-five GiGi’s Playhouse locations nationwide and in Mexico, and it’s the only nationwide network of Down Syndrome Achievement Centers. Down syndrome is the largest chromosomal disability in the country but is the least funded. Ninetynine percent of the GiGi’s Playhouse workforce is volunteer, and services are completely free to families. The not-forprofit organization operates on donations and grants. When Kim and John Guerrieri’s baby daughter, Gianna, was diagnosed with Down syndrome shortly after birth nine years ago, there were no physical spaces available in the Rochester area for parents and families to gather. Kim, along with Jennifer Bustamante, the mother of another child with Down syndrome, heard about GiGi’s Playhouse and, after visiting a branch in another city, they decided that this was desperately needed for Rochester. There are currently more than 400 participants in its programs.
