Smile Farms Inc.

What’s growing? 🌱 📍 Smile Farms Inc. at the League Education and Treatment Center This campus in Brooklyn, NY serves adults and children with psychiatric and intellectual disabilities. 🌿 Smile Farmers tend eight raised beds, a hoop house that allows for year-round operations, and a sensory garden. Farmers work throughout the week to grow peppers, cucumbers, flowers, and herbs. Crops grown at Smile Farms at LETC are sold in-house and at the Park Slope Farmers' Market throughout the growing season. 🌶 The program at Smile Farms at LETC also hires Smile Staffers to work in the hospitality field, in connection with Chef Tom Colicchio's restaurant group Crafted Hospitality. 🍽️

For over a decade, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, INC. Summer of Million Smiles (SOMS) program has empowered team members nationwide to volunteer in their local communities. This year, Smile Farms Inc. was thrilled to be chosen as the SOMS Charity of Choice! 👏 Throughout the summer, company offices from Jericho, NY to Medford, OR were abuzz with activity, hosting pop-up sales of our Heat with Heart hot sauce to raise funds for Smile Farms. Nearly 400 bottles of hot sauce were sold, raising an impressive $4,215 to support our mission. 🌶 Many participants found the experience deeply meaningful. Rodney Jean-Bart of Bloomnet/Napco reflected, “I’m very proud of the Jacksonville office for being able to come together for a good cause. I was personally touched by stories that were shared from a few employees with their own individual experiences. I’m thankful that this sale was able to put a voice for those that go unheard.” 🌱 We are so proud to be the signature philanthropic partner of 1-800-Flowers.com. Thank you for your continued support!

Our wonderful partners at Savings.com are back with another opportunity to save money while supporting Smile Farms Inc.! 🌱 Visit this link to download the savingsCARES browser extension. Smile Farms receives $5 for every download and you get easy access to coupons for thousands of online stores. It’s a win-win! 👏 Download now: https://lnkd.in/eTnJ_73i

“Smile Farms makes me smile!” –Daryl, a Smile Farmer at Nassau BOCES 👩🌾 #FarmerFriday What makes you smile? 🌱 Smile Farms Inc. provides gainful employment, education, and job training skills for people with disabilities in agriculture & hospitality. 🌶 We strive to ensure that all people are able to have the same opportunities for employment – to earn a paycheck, contribute to their community, and cultivate the sense of pride that comes with working. 🌱 Want to learn more? Follow us at Smile Farms or head to our website smilefarms.org ID: A farmer in a red shirt wearing a Smile Farms apron gives an interview speaking directly to the camera. #DisabilityEmployment #DisabilityInclusion

Happy Labor Day! To all of our farmers, staff, and partners – thank you for all your hard work! Now kick back, relax, and enjoy your day off. You’ve earned it! ☀️ #LaborDay Did you know? 🌱 8 in 10 adults with a disability are unemployed, compared with 3 in 10 without a disability. At Smile Farms Inc., we strive to shape a better future where people with disabilities are valued for the real contributions they make in their workplaces and communities. 💬 When you support Smile Farms, you are part of something special: a community unwavering in our commitment to improve employment, vocational, and educational opportunities for people with disabilities. ID: Farmers surrounded by garden beds of plants at Smile Farms League Education and Treatment Center Brooklyn campus. #DisabilityEmployment #NonProfit #InclusiveEmployment

It’s #FarmerFriday! Meet Tanisha, a grower at Smile Farms Independent Group Home Living Program, Inc. [IGHL] campus 🌱 Tanisha loves working at the soil table. “It’s important to have a job because it’s a paying job, and you get money,” she said. “It feels really good to earn my paycheck.” She uses her earnings to pay bills, but is also setting money aside to take a trip with her cousin. 🌿 📍 Smile Farms Inc. at IGHL in Moriches, NY is the organization’s flagship campus. IGHL provides programs, services, and support for over 80 people with intellectual disabilities. Smile Farmers grow annuals, perennials, and herbs in 19 greenhouses; plants are sold in an on-site retail store and wholesale to local florists and businesses.

What’s growing? 🌱 📍 Smile Farms Inc. at The Viscardi Center This campus in Albertson, NY, runs a transitional program for young adults and adults with developmental disabilities and educates children with physical disabilities. To prepare future gardeners, The Viscardi Center has incorporated horticulture into its science and culinary curriculum. As a result, the newest generation of Smile Farmers are benefitting from programming at this campus. 🌿 Eggplant, zucchini, and tomato are just some of the crops being grown to be used in the culinary program which gets sold at the in-school market. Students also grow a variety of peppers for Heat with Heart hot sauce! 🌶

It’s #FarmerFriday! Meet Ruffino, a Smile Farmer at our Smile Farms Inc. campus in Staten Island! 🌱 Constructive Partnerships Unlimited creates opportunities for individuals with developmental disabilities, including Cerebral Palsy, to grow produce, providing them with marketable skills, independence, and mental wellness benefits. 🌿 The facility’s greenhouses feature raised beds growing sweet and hot peppers for Smile Farms’ signature hot sauce Heat With Heart ™ 🌶️, as well as herbs and other vegetables for local Farmers’ Markets. 🥬 (Get your bottle here! https://lnkd.in/edN2iCsT) Smile Farms at CPUnlimited also hires Smile Staffers to work in hospitality through Crafted Hospitality. 🍽️

As part of our Summer of Million Smiles program, our Jericho headquarters recently hosted a Smile Farms Heat with Heart hot sauce sale to support the nonprofit's mission of creating meaningful job opportunities for adults with developmental disabilities. We were honored to have a few special guests – farmers from Smile Farms Inc. themselves! We had a great turnout and want to thank all the volunteers and shoppers who made it a success. Want to support Smile Farms? Shop from their special collection, including their delicious hot sauces and more, where 20% of every purchase goes to Smile Farms: https://lnkd.in/eXeRwfy3

REMINDER 👋 Come see us Smile Farms Inc. TOMORROW at the NYU Langone Long Island Farmers Market from 10AM to 3PM! 🥬🥕 🌶️ Shop with our team of Smile Sellers who will be selling our Smile Farms #HeatWithHeart hot sauce, produce, and more from a variety of amazing vendors at the NYU Langone Health Long Island farmer’s market on select Wednesdays until October 16! 📍NYU Langone Hospital – Long Island Campus 259 1st Street Mineola, NY 11501 *Produce selection varies week to week!