Here's an excellent example of a California Pot Club thinking "outside the box" to strengthen ties with the community and build acceptance of cannabis as medicine-
WATSONVILLE, Calif. -- A medical marijuana dispensary in Soquel helped Watsonville’s Second Harvest Food Bank meet the high demand this holiday season by offering a complimentary pre-rolled joint for every four cans of food donated by patients.
It was an unusual joint venture -- trading food for marijuana -- but organizers said they rolled in the donations because of the deal.
From November through Christmas Eve, medical marijuana patients at Granny Purps in Soquel got a complimentary marijuana joint for every four cans of food they donated to Second Harvest. There was a limit of three complimentary joints per day for each patient.
One patient who gave her name as Melody talked about participating in the drive. She thought it was a great idea.
"It's helped people who are hungry and it's helped people like me that need medication," said Melody. " I have this happy little band [shows her arm band] and it's because I've had surgery from cancer."
Granny Purps has taken in around 11,000 pounds of food while handing out about 2,000 joints since the food drive started.
The dispensary owner said she was not surprised by the response.
"Everybody that works here, everybody that comes in here, we're all interested in helping people and making people better," said Granny Purps proprietor, who wanted to remain nameless. "So a food drive goes right along with that."
Granny Purps' representatives said offering incentives is not much different in principle from what many more traditional businesses do to stimulate donations.
Danny Keith of Second Harvest said the effort was greatly appreciated.
"Some of our bigger contributors have been struggling to make their goals," said Keith. "These smaller events where stores are raising 10,12, 15,000 pounds of food are really beginning to be a major contributor to our coffers."
Second Harvest provides food for about 50,000 people every month.
The food bank said it has not gotten any negative reactions regarding the drive run by the dispensary. With help from businesses such as Granny Purps, Second Harvest expects to meet its goal of collecting more than two million pounds of food during the holiday season.<!--stopindex-->
As reported by Daryl Huff, KITV 4 News.
WATSONVILLE, Calif. -- A medical marijuana dispensary in Soquel helped Watsonville’s Second Harvest Food Bank meet the high demand this holiday season by offering a complimentary pre-rolled joint for every four cans of food donated by patients.
It was an unusual joint venture -- trading food for marijuana -- but organizers said they rolled in the donations because of the deal.
From November through Christmas Eve, medical marijuana patients at Granny Purps in Soquel got a complimentary marijuana joint for every four cans of food they donated to Second Harvest. There was a limit of three complimentary joints per day for each patient.
One patient who gave her name as Melody talked about participating in the drive. She thought it was a great idea.
"It's helped people who are hungry and it's helped people like me that need medication," said Melody. " I have this happy little band [shows her arm band] and it's because I've had surgery from cancer."
Granny Purps has taken in around 11,000 pounds of food while handing out about 2,000 joints since the food drive started.
The dispensary owner said she was not surprised by the response.
"Everybody that works here, everybody that comes in here, we're all interested in helping people and making people better," said Granny Purps proprietor, who wanted to remain nameless. "So a food drive goes right along with that."
Granny Purps' representatives said offering incentives is not much different in principle from what many more traditional businesses do to stimulate donations.
Danny Keith of Second Harvest said the effort was greatly appreciated.
"Some of our bigger contributors have been struggling to make their goals," said Keith. "These smaller events where stores are raising 10,12, 15,000 pounds of food are really beginning to be a major contributor to our coffers."
Second Harvest provides food for about 50,000 people every month.
The food bank said it has not gotten any negative reactions regarding the drive run by the dispensary. With help from businesses such as Granny Purps, Second Harvest expects to meet its goal of collecting more than two million pounds of food during the holiday season.<!--stopindex-->
As reported by Daryl Huff, KITV 4 News.
Awesomeness!!!
