New space at Driver’s Village donated by Lowe’s Heroes Project

By Sarah Hall

Editor

On Friday, Oct. 21, coinciding with Down Syndrome Awareness Month, GiGi’s Playhouse in Cicero will unveil its newest offering to individuals with Down syndrome: a Maker Space where participants can create mugs, T-shirts, bracelets and more, which will be sold in the national organization’s Hugs and Mugs store, and ultimately learn STEM skills.

“We really want to give our adults and area to… be able to make their own things that they can be proud of,” said Christina Caggiola, site director for the achievement center located in Driver’s Village. “Right now preliminary ideas are to have craft making [and] an induction press to make mugs. We talked about finding partners to come in and do STEM-based programming in that area. We have a science club who meets on Thursdays and we’re hoping they can transition into that area.”

GiGi’s Playhouse, a national organization which will celebrate its fifth anniversary in Syracuse on Nov. 12, serves about 500 individuals locally. Caggiola said the mission of the privately funded nonprofit organization is to provide programming for individuals of all ages with Down syndrome.

“We supplement what they would get outside of us,” she said. ‘Whether it be through an occupational therapist, physical therapist or another school, we provide educational and therapeutic-based programs at no cost to our families. We aim to give them confidence and build on their muscle tone and fine motor skills… pretty much assisting them to achieve their best of all.”

GiGi’s has a total of 14 programs, including a sign language class, family networking, cooking classes, fitness classes and literacy tutoring. The organization also offers a dance program through Celebrations Dance Studio in Cicero, a karate program through Impact Martial Arts at Great Northern Mall and a Crossfit program at 315 Crossfit in Cicero.

Caggiola said all of the programming is aimed not only at helping individuals with Down syndrome achieve their best selves, but also raising awareness about the disorder and dispelling misconceptions associated with it.

“Down syndrome is actually the most commonly occurring genetic disorder. It’s the least funded in the United States. We exist to bridge that gap and fill that gap,” Caggiola said. “[In addition], we’re here to undo the myths that are still perpetuated in the community. For example, individual with Down syndrome can do anything you and I can do, but it just might take them a little longer and they might approach it differently then we do. It doesn’t mean they can’t do it. Unfortunately there are still a lot of people who believe that if they are to have a child with Down syndrome it’s this doomsday death sentence. Even hospitals are more apt to tell them what they can’t do rather then what they can do. It’s a large piece of what we do is to try and get in there and dispel those myths.”

That’s something GiGi’s Playhouse is hoping to accomplish with the Maker Space. The new space was constructed with materials and labor donated through the Lowe’s Heroes program, which provides $2,500 for a project of the store’s choosing. Three local Lowe’s stores—the Cicero, Clay and Syracuse locations — partnered up to support the project, according to Jim McClenthan, head of human resources for the Cicero store.

“This is the second year that we’ve actually teamed up with two other stores to make our donation go from $2,500 to $7,500, which makes the project that much more impactful. You can do a lot more obviously with $7,500 than you can with $2,500,” McClenthan said. “I was very fortunate this year to not necessarily convince, it wasn’t a convincing thing. It was more, ‘Hey, here’s what Cicero’s doing. Does anybody else want to get in on it?’ The other two stores jumped on it. This project really touched everybody’s heart, and everybody thought it was a great idea.”

McClenthan himself came up with the idea of helping Gigi’s Playhouse. He has a brother with Down syndrome, and his daughters are active with Advocates Inc., a local organization that helps individuals with disabilities.

“I thought it would be a good idea,” McClenthan said.

“Lowe’s actually contacted us,” Caggiola said. “[Jim] came in, surprised me one day and said, ‘I’m putting together this Lowe’s Heroes Project. I’m trying to get a couple other stores on board. I just wanted to update you.’ Didn’t hear from him for a few months. He popped back in again, let me know it was a go and we started planning and devising.”

The team at GiGi’s worked with Lowe’s to come up with the plan for the Maker Space, which also includes a new floor, new chairs and carpets for GiGi’s Playhouse, was completed over a period of about a week in September.

Though it didn’t take long to complete, Caggiola said the benefits for the population GiGi’s serves will be lasting.

“They can create and sell a product. Who wouldn’t want to see someone walking around with a water bottle that they designed? That’s going to be a huge confidence boost,” she said. “I think that it will help individuals build their skill set so if they are applying for a retail job they can say, ‘I have experience stocking the shelves and doing XYZ at GiGi’s Playhouse in our Maker Space.’”

But beyond that, the space helps to do what GiGi’s has been trying to do for the last five years.

“I think that it’s just more of the same,” Caggiola said, “of being a more tangible way to show the community that they can do anything you or I could do.”