SavingsCARES and Disability Pride Month: Save Money and Support Adults With Developmental Disabilities

July is Disability Pride Month. To mark the occasion, we’re teaming up with Smile Farms to bring you fantastic deals while also working to combat systemic ableism and improve the lives of people with developmental disabilities.

Smile Farms is our Charity of the Month, chosen as part of our SavingsCARES campaign. This means two things: first, we’ll get the ball rolling by donating $5,000 to our selected charity. Second, we’ll include additional donations from participating brands offering SavingsCARES deals, provided generously this month by the 1-800-Flowers family of brands. When you shop using Savings.com coupons, you can feel great about savings money and supporting the SavingsCARES Charity of the Month!

What Is Disability Pride Month?

Disability Pride Month was first celebrated in 2015, marking the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act. It was the first year Disability Pride was celebrated for a whole month, rather than a single day. This same year, Smile Farms was founded.

Disability Pride is about embracing all disabilities, celebrating the achievements of people with disabilities, and directly challenging systemic ableism. In the United States, where 61 million – that’s 1 in four – adults live with a disability, a disabled person is more than three times less likely to be employed than someone without a disability.

Smile Farms aims to change that. The nonprofit organization works to create meaningful jobs within the agriculture and hospitality industries for adults with developmental disabilities, many of whom have never worked before. This means people who have previously not had the opportunity to earn a salary and gain experience in a work environment can now do so. Plus, their work gives them the chance to socialize and foster new relationships with their coworkers.

Smile Farms and 1-800-Flowers

The stories of Smile Farms and 1-800-Flowers have always been intertwined. 1-800-Flowers founder Jim McCann and his brother CEO Chris McCann were looking for a cause to support through their company. So they partnered with Independent Group Home Living, a home for adults with developmental disabilities, to start Smile Farms. Inspired by their brother, Kevin, who had a developmental disability, Jim and Chris opened the first Smile Farms campus in Moriches, New York.

Today, Smile Farms is the signature philanthropic partner of 1-800-Flowers. The organization has expanded to 11 campuses and employs over 280 farmers, all of whom are adults with developmental disabilities. The 1-800-Flowers website offers a whole collection of gifts made from products grown on Smile Farms campuses, like hot sauce made from Smile Farms peppers. What’s more, 1-800-Flowers donates 20% of all profits made from the Smile Farms collection back to Smile Farms.

Save Money and Make a Difference

Thanks to our partnership with Smile Farms, it’s never been so easy to save money while giving back. Let’s say there’s a big day coming up for one of your loved ones or you just want to send someone a bouquet to say you’re thinking of them. The next time you order from 1-800-Flowers, you can donate to Smile Farms at the same time without spending an extra cent.

If you’re looking for other deals on Savings.com, keep an eye out for the blue price tag with a red heart — it’s how you’ll know if a brand is participating in this month’s SavingsCARES campaign.