Recently when Monica and her mom stopped by Gigi’s Playhouse, Lizz, the program coordinator, asked Monica about her job. Lizz asked Monica’s mom to write some notes so that Lizz could add this to her newsletter post about Monica’s participation at Gigi’s. Lizz did a great job describing Monica’s life during these Covid-times and featured Monica in the February issue! Here is the post. https://gigisplayhouse.org/cleveland/participant-spotlight-monica/
Lizz has been a great cheerleader for all the participants at Gigis. No shy bones there! She praises them for all their efforts and guides them to push themselves to do a little more. She has been a personal encouragement to Monica. She also gives parents a push now and then! This includes one time she asked Monica’s mom to step out of her comfort zone! Lizz needed a family to answer a news reporter’s questions about getting the Covid-19 vaccine when it was first made available back in March 2021 to at-risk populations. The last thing Monica’s mom wanted was to be on the news! But we understood the value of what Gigi’s does to help put individuals with Down Syndrome in the mainstream. Gigi’s shows what they can do so that they can get the help and respect they deserve. So, we took a deep breath and went ahead with it. Here is the clip from the news channel archives. https://www.cleveland19.com/2021/03/02/covid-vaccine-offers-protection-ohioans-with-down-syndrome/
The challenges of the past few years have kept Monica’s mom from writing much on the blog, but Monica’s life has not been dull! She has enjoyed being an aunt to lots of nieces and nephews and helped build a shed in her brother’s back yard.
Monica enjoyed lots of virtual craft nights, cooking classes and even dance parties.
She kayaked by herself for the first time this year.
Monica attended the Drive-thru for the Tim Tebow Night to Shine at Bay Presbyterian this year before watching it on live-stream with the family. She can’t wait to get back in person for the event next year!
Hopefully, more posts will be coming soon.
monicajakubisin 