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Creating One Job at a Time: Smile Farms at Skills Unlimited Blooms on Long Island
July 24, 2017 | News
What:
Smile Farms, a non-profit founded by the McCann family in 2015 dedicated to providing meaningful job opportunities for individuals with developmental disabilities, will hold a ribbon cutting ceremony on Friday, July 28, 2017 at its newest location, Smile Farms at Skills Unlimited in Oakdale. The ribbon cutting ceremony will begin at 10:30 a.m. attended by Jim McCann, Chairman of Smile Farms and Founder of 1-800-FLOWERS.COM and Robert S. Budd, Chief Executive Officer for Family Residences and Essential Enterprises, Inc. (FREE)
Where:
Smile Farms at Skills Unlimited
405 Locust Avenue
Oakdale, NY 11769
When:
Friday, July 28, 2017, 10:30 AM – 11:30 AM
Why:
In celebration of opening its fourth location, Smile Farms is holding a ribbon cutting ceremony for Smile Farms at Skills Unlimited.
Skills Unlimited, an affiliate of FREE, provides vocational training programs for adults with developmental disabilities. Smile Farms has teamed up with Skills Unlimited to create an urban farm with 24 raised garden beds which will be farmed and tended to by adults with developmental disabilities from the organization’s vocational training program. In addition, Smile Farms at Skills Unlimited includes an on-site farm stand to sell the produce and plants grown in the gardens. Smile Farms at Skills Unlimited will employ 10 individuals from the vocational training program providing them with meaningful job opportunities and skills to participate in their local communities.
With 80% of adults with developmental disabilities unemployed throughout the United States, Smile Farms at FREE and Skills Unlimited is working to decrease this number by providing employment training in agricultural settings, and by providing employment at the facility. By partnering with others and bringing together innovators and makers of change – Smile Farms at Skills Unlimited is helping to create a movement that nurtures a world where people with differing abilities are always included and employed.
In addition to the ribbon cutting ceremony, farms tours will be available hosted by the farmers and media interviews with Jim McCann and Robert S. Budd.