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Gigi’s Playhouse helps to raise awareness about Down syndrome
Gigi's Playhouse is a Down syndrome achievement center. With World Down Syndrome Day coming up on March 21, the Milwaukee location is raising awareness.
MILWAUKEE - Gigi's Playhouse is a Down syndrome achievement center. With World Down Syndrome Day coming up on March 21, the Milwaukee location is raising awareness.
Stitch by stitch, Katelyn Rekoske is learning how to knit.
"And it's actually my first time doing it and I'm actually loving it," said Katelyn Rekoske, Gigi's participant.
Katelyn is a participant at Gigi's Playhouse, a place she calls...
"Amazing and awesome," said Rekoske.
Katelyn Rekoske
You are kind, you are precious and you are loved -- three reminders Gigi's Playhouse wants their families to know when they walk through the door. These are also reminders they want everyone to know on World Down Syndrome Day.
"Well March 21 is 3/21 and the condition of Down Syndrome is three copies of your 21st chromosome," said Sue Pelikan, President of the Board of Managers at Gigi's Playhouse.
A day Sue Pelikan hopes people look beyond what's on the surface.
Katelyn Rekoske
"They understand people with Down Syndrome truly are capable. They're capable of working, they're capable of giving back to our society and they're capable of being your friend and just know that it's more than what you see on the surface," said Sue Pelikan.
Gigi's Playhouse Milwaukee offers free therapeutic and social programming that's designed for the participants to become their best selves.
Gigi's Playhouse
"We want everybody to walk through the playhouse knowing that once you come through those doors, you're accepted for just who you are," said Pelikan.
For Katelyn, World Down Syndrome Day is about using her voice.
"Something to be taken away would be our right to have a voice. I would say speak up. If you don't speak up and you're still silent, you can't be silent," said Rekoske.
Katelyn Rekoske
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Raising awareness for a cause stitched together by love.
Gigi's Playhouse Milwaukee has a donation campaign starting on World Down Syndrome Day, March 21. The goal is to find 321 people to donate $21 to Gigi's Playhouse for three years.
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