Prospector Popcorn is more than just a gourmet popcorn brand, but one that provides competitive and inclusive employment for people with disabilities. They sparkle and transform their passions into professions, while earning paychecks with competitive wages. Around 75% of its 125 employees self-identify with a disability. Approximately 80% of Americans with disabilities don’t have a job. Meaningful employment is vital to a person’s mental, social, financial, and emotional health. Prospector Popcorn wants to transform the lives of people with disabilities by giving them competitive and inclusive employment opportunities.
Their gourmet popcorn is popped fresh daily at the Prospector Theater – a 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to competitive and integrated employment for people with disabilities through the operation of a first-run movie theater in Ridgefield, CT. Employees of the Theater are known as Prospects, and we live a higher quality of life through the “popportunities” that meaningful work provides. If you’ve ever been to The Prospector you know how special it is. My family doesn’t ever want to see a movie anywhere else ever again!
When guests join for the latest blockbusters, they are dazzled by the sparkle, talents, and passions of Prospects. Professional popcornistas transform traditional theater-style popcorn into sparkling showstoppers worthy of standing ovations. Once they saw it popping off the shelves at the concessions stand, they knew that the popcorn nation needed this poptacular sensation. The Prospector expanded their operating procedures and began shipping to every kernel of the globe.
And with every morsel munched, they create more jobs for America’s most talented – yet underrepresented – population. “And we promise our Gourmet Popcorn is much butter than our corny puns.” When you purchase delicious popcorn from them, you create the thousands of opportunities and interactions that fuel the Prospector’s mission! Learn more here!
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Photos and video courtesy of the Prospector Theater