'Inclusion and acceptance': Gigi's Playhouse fosters community at new Cary location

CARY, N.C. (WTVD) -- Michelle Schwab remembers the lonely feeling she felt when her son Matthew was born with Down syndrome. She had no community.

"When he was born 25 years ago there wasn't anything like GiGi's," said Schwab. "I longed for just a place to go meet other parents who had kids like my kiddo. He's my oldest."

Her son is a participant at GiGi's and is now celebrating two years at the job he landed through the center's employment placement program.

"I work for a local company called Ruckus Pizza, Pasta and Spirits. Prior to that job I haven't been a stranger to the workforce," said Matthew Schwab.

Michelle Pfieffer is president of Gigi's Playhouse Cary. She showed ABC11 around the new and improved location that offer life skills, literacy, speech therapy and career development programs.

"We have so many individuals we have trained here that are now out in our community working. With our partnership with Howdy Homemade Ice Cream next door, they've already hired five of our participants," she said.

Pfieffer knows first-hand how beneficial these programs are because her daughter Anna who has Down syndrome. The expansion of this achievement center means there will be more than one class happening at the same time.

"We can have something going on in the kitchen. Somebody could be in the gym running a program. There could be one on one literacy readiness," she said. "It's so helpful for them to know there's somebody else experiencing what you're experiencing."

The center serves all ages and aims to continue fostering a welcoming community of support and acceptance.

"It means inclusion, acceptance and involvement in the community," said Schwab.