“That was one major area that we would’ve never been able to do that without this giveaway. Simply just drawing in more than double our crowd. It was a whole bunch of people who were new. New to Autism United, maybe new to the world of autism. They were able to join us for an evening and experience what we’re all about, what our families are all about and really just kind of take it in.”

“We are beyond excited to be the winners of the Baird Center Gala Giveaway. This amazing surprise gives us an incredible head start on our new capital campaign to fund two new important resources at the Racine Zoo. These projects will allow us to continue to give the best care to our animals and expand our ability to create positive and educational interactions between people and the natural world. The gala is going to be spectacular and we hope you all join us in 2026.”

“As a nonprofit, when you’re stretched thin, having an organization and the staff we worked with at Baird Center lift some of the weight off is just tremendous. That all goes to our mission of transforming lives through theater. It’ll go toward our operating costs, towards theater education, our academy and our productions. It ensures that First Stage is able to thrive and continue offering all of our programs to the community.”