For the past 65 years, My Day Counts has helped people with developmental disabilities find greater opportunities in their lives. Central to the Anaheim-based nonprofit’s mission is its work programs, including My Cup Counts, a manufacturing and packing warehouse site for single-serve beverage products. But for a recent project, disabled workers assembled coffee Keurig cups with “Trump 2016” emblazoned on the foil lids.
All in a day’s work, right? The warehouse employees just did their job after all. But the Twitter account for My Cup Counts beamed with pride last week, posting a photo of the Trump K-cup and tweeting it over to the Donald. “Join us @realDonaldTrump,” the now-deleted Tweet read. “We hire #specialneeds & are making America great… one cup at a time!”
Of course, the irony is that among those Trump has offended on the campaign trail includes people with disabilities. He chided conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer, who suffered a severed spine and uses a wheel chair, as a “guy that can’t buy a pair of pants.” The Republican presidential candidate also infamously mocked disabled New York Times reporter Serge F. Kovaleski during a rally.
Roll the tape!
But My Day Counts wasn’t the only Twitter account gushing over the Trump K-Cups. The nonprofit partners with Caféjo, an Anaheim-based coffee and tea maker, who provides jobs at the warehouse for disabled workers. CEO Patrick J. Rolfes posted a photo of the K-cup on his personal account tweeting “Mr. Trump, we are ready to help fuel the Trump train,” followed by an American flag emoji.
The Weekly asked both Mike Galliano, CEO of My Day Counts, and Rofles if the project included other candidate K-cups or just “Trump 2016” ones. We also wanted to know what was up with the tweets, whether they were trying to get an RT or was a way to show up Trump’s mockery of disabled folks. Before getting a response, the tweets disappeared from both accounts. Rofles never responded to our emails, but Galliano was nice enough to provide a response.
“We recently received an order from a private party that included a ‘Trump’ message,” Galliano writes in a statement to the Weekly. “We would welcome the opportunity to provide such orders to any individual that would allow us to continue to provide paid training to the adults that we serve.” Galliano stresses that the 501(c)(3) non-profit organization neither endorses nor seeks the endorsement of any candidate or party in the upcoming elections.
But what about that tweet? Galiano states that it didn’t originate from the My Cup Counts account. “Our site was #hash tagged and tagged. It was then re-tweeted and tweeted by our intern overseeing our social media,” he adds. “Her intention was for the awareness of the unique products we produce and the service we provide to adults with developmental disabilities – not an endorsement of any candidate or party.”
Galliano offered the opportunity to provide OC Weekly with branded products, complete with viewing and taste samples. I’m no coffee drinker myself, but even if I imbibed, that’s not my call to make!
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