NEW YORK, NY - Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield will be on hand on March 10th for the Grand Opening of Ben & Jerry’s newest PartnerShop. The shop provides unique training opportunities for persons with mental illness to learn new job skills while working in a retail setting. Profits generated from sales at the store, located on 222 East 86th Street, will support efforts of the Postgraduate Center for Mental Health.
The center expects that, in the first year, over 50 clients will benefit from this innovative vocational program. Peter Yee, Vice President for Residential and Community Services, will oversee the management of the special franchise. Of this Ben & Jerry’s PartnerShop, Yee stated, “in addition to training and hiring persons with mental illness we are employing local high school kids. The kids benefit from the part-time job as well as the experience of working with formerly homeless persons who are putting their lives back together. The kids and clients help each other.”
In addition to the waived franchise fee, Postgraduate Center has received financial assistance from the NYC Department of Mental Health, the Marty & Dorothy Silverman Foundation, and A.T. Kearney. Ben & Jerry’s will continue to provide ongoing operational, marketing and business support for the shop.
The Grand Opening celebration is scheduled for March 10, 1996 from 12:00pm until 6:00pm, with the real Ben and Jerry on hand between 2:00pm and 4:00pm. During the festivities regular sized cones will be sold for one dollar each with all proceeds going to the New York office of the Children’s Defense Fund.