Sunday, March 21 marks World Down Syndrome Day, a day the world raises awareness about the condition and recognizes those living with it. 

Will and Emily Mondschein found out their son had down syndrome when Emily was 12 weeks pregnant with him.

"When we found out the diagnosis, the delivery wasn't the best. There wasn't very much current information, there wasn't a lot that we were told and so we got scared," Will Mondschein said.

Their fear eventually turned to action once they came across Gigi's Playhouse, a network of down syndrome achievement centers.

"We went to the Syracuse playhouse, actually there is a few in New York state, and we walked in and we realized when we saw what was going on, a lot of the fear just goes away because you saw these kids hanging out, having fun, doing the program. The parents all knew each other. It's a whole community and there was so much support. And my wife and I just thought we need that in Buffalo," Mondschein said.

Now it's in Buffalo thanks to the couple. Gigi's Playhouse Buffalo opened its 8,000 square foot space on Kenmore Avenue last August after the pandemic delayed its original March 2020 opening. The center offers a wide range of programming such as fitness sessions and one-on-one tutoring. The goal is for those who come in their doors to achieve success in social, educational, and employment opportunities in the future. Raising awareness is also important.

Mondschein said, "World Down Syndrome Day is March 21. Down syndrome happens where there's three copies of the 21st chromosome, so every year on March 21 or 3/21, the world gets together and celebrates and we celebrate everything that we love most about individuals with down syndrome. We bring awareness to people that may not know about it very much."

In honor of World Down Syndrome Day, Gigi's Playhouse is hosting a tailgate-style party on Sunday at the UB Anderson Gallery parking lot, which is behind their Kenmore Avenue building. People can enjoy food and music and receive a goody-bag of gifts. Attendance at the free event is limited due to COVID restrictions. The party will be split up into different time slots: 11 a.m. – noon, 12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m., and 2 p.m. – 3 p.m. Masks and social distancing will be observed. They'll also have an awareness kiosk to talk about all things down syndrome.

Mondschein said, "A lot of it is just being able to be together, this population is a little bit more at risk than the typical population is so there are some people in the community that haven't done much and we're finally starting to feel safer, we're starting to finally be able to get together again."

"We've impacted so many lives that I don't think would have benefitted from this if we hadn't been able to bring the center to them."

You have to make a reservation online if you're interested in attending. 

When Spectrum News spoke with Mondschein on Friday, he said reservations were pretty filled up.