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Greyston Bakery Expansion

Greyston answers the burning question - how can a brownie change the world?

Greyston Bakery Expansion

Greyston answers the burning question - how can a brownie change the world?

1 Campaign |

Yonkers, United States

$10,186 USD 48 backers

40% of $25,000 Flexible Goal Flexible Goal

Story

FAQ

Updates 5

Comments 13

Greyston is known for our signature quote, “We don’t hire people to bake brownies, we bake brownies so we can hire people.” For over 30 years, Greyston has lived this reality and that’s why we are Bakers on a Mission.

They are simply the best brownies in the world! Greyston produces 30,000 lbs of brownies every day for Ben & Jerry's ice cream - that's right, 30,000 lbs!

The Bakery provides jobs to our community’s most disenfranchised members - the homeless and people who have a history of incarceration and/or substance abuse. Jobs are available to anyone who enrolls and demonstrates a willingness to work. There are NO background checks or pre-screening requirements, and as a result, the Bakery is able to reach our community’s neediest and provide them with jobs, skills training and comprehensive resources for personal and professional growth.

What's next for Greyston?

We're glad you asked. Greyston is embarking on an ambitious effort to expand our own line of delicious brownies. In order to meet this goal, Greyston needs to invest in our production and fulfillment areas of the Bakery.

Funds provided by this campaign would be used to purchase needed equipment and create facility, system and fulfillment improvements that will allow Greyston to grow our online business substantially.

With the expansion of this area of business, Greyston expects to hire 15 full-time employees in an array of jobs including production, packaging and fulfillment. These skill sets are clearly transferable to a number of other industries, and we will continue to job place Greyston Bakery alumni throughout Westchester County.

The continued expansion of the Greyston Bakery is critical to our ability to provide individuals and their families with the tools and resources they need to successfully move out of poverty. Jobs are the reason we exist. With your support, we plan to expand our online sales and continue to grow the Greyston Bakery.

To read more stories about Greyston, click on the Gallery Tab, or visit www.greyston.com

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GREYSTON MISSION AND HISTORY
Grounded in a whole-person approach, which we call PathMaking, Greyston Foundation, a pioneer in social enterprise, creates jobs and provides integrated programs for individuals and their families to move forward on their path to self-sufficiency.

In the 1980s, Roshi Bernie Glassman, now an internationally-acclaimed American Buddhist social activist, recognized that employment is the gateway out of poverty and towards self-sufficiency. In response, he opened the Greyston Bakery to provide jobs for hard-to-employ adults. He declared an open door hiring policy, which offers employment
opportunities regardless of educational attainment, work history, or past social barriers, such as incarceration, homelessness or drug use.

Out of this hiring policy a new and larger mission grew. Low-income apartments were then built for the formerly homeless to provide housing for Bakery workers and their peers. Soon after, Greyston Child Care Center was founded to ensure that a lack of high-quality, low cost child care was never a barrier to work for tenants and Bakery employees. As the AIDS epidemic spread, Greyston responded by opening Issan House and the Maitri Center -- housing and adult day health services for people living with HIV/AIDS. Growing awareness of health disparities for communities of color and growing concerns about the environment prompted the creation of the Community Gardens and Environmental Education program. Most recently, in response to the recession, which disproportionately impacted poor Yonkers residents, Greyston launched WD 2.0, a comprehensive workforce development program.

What originally began as a modest bakery has grown into a broad array of results-oriented, evidence-based programs and services designed to respond to the changing needs of Yonkers residents. Today, Greyston serves over 2,200 community members annually.

A Greyston Story: Dion