At Lightshade, giving back to the community is important. For this reason, we want to recognize five local organizations who are making a difference every day.
Citizens in Colorado made their voices heard when they voted in favor of legalizing recreational cannabis. Since then, the cannabis industry has matured, and many businesses, including Lightshade, have built Corporate Social Responsibility programs (or Cannabis Social Responsibility, as we prefer to call it), to demonstrate the capacity of cannabis to do good. It is through our ability to give, that we will show the willingness of cannabis industry leaders to support our community in a big way.
As an industry, we are in the position to redefine CSR, building an improved vision of what it means to be good corporate citizens, and creating new standards for the rest of our industry to follow. The stigma surrounding cannabis is a force we battle each day. Media outlets, even in Colorado, where cannabis is legal, too often portray cannabis as a counter-cultural industry working in the shadows of mainstream society.
This is a false narrative. Our industry is about healthy living, healing, positivity, and love.
February, to us, is the month of love; love for ourselves, for our partners, and for the community. It is for this reason, that we’d like to highlight five local organizations (and a handful of honorable mentions) working to make Colorado a more supportive place to live, for each individual in the state.
Five Colorado Organizations Committed to Giving Back
1. The Gathering Place
Founded in 1986, the Gathering place is the only daytime drop-in center in metro Denver that serves women, their children, and transgender individuals who are experiencing poverty, many of whom are also experiencing homelessness. While the Gathering Place refers to those they serve as “members”, no fees are ever charged for programs or services.
TGP believes deeply in the power of the community, and they work tirelessly to make it stronger. Their core values include recognizing individual strengths, building respect and trust, and offering unconditional acceptance.
If you’d like to learn more about The Gathering Place, please contact them at:
(303) 321-4198, or (303) 321-0679
2. Aurora Warms the Nights
Aurora Warms the Night (AWTN), shelters those experiencing homelessness in the winter when the temperatures drop below 20 degrees. Year-round services include meals, warm clothing, personal hygiene products, transportation to shelter, laundry vouchers, bus passes, partner agency referrals, and advocacy. AWTN operates these services in order to ensure families and individuals meet their most basic needs, learn new skills, and access resources to transition out of homelessness. Aurora Warms the Night also provides a mobile shower truck to give those experiencing homelessness a safe and comfortable place to bathe, helping to restore their sense of pride and dignity.
Aurora Warms the Night is helping to break the cycle of homelessness, through their comprehensive services. Their partner provider services are located onsite and include mental health services, health care clinics, and workforce education for clients, including resume composition, interviewing skills, job coaching assistance, food assistance, SSI, and SSDI application assistance, along with veterans’ services.
AWTN provides education to the community regarding homelessness, including presentations to schools, the faith-based community, corporations, and community organizations.
If you’d like to learn more about Aurora Warms the Night, please contact them at:
info@awtnco.org or (303) 361-6905
3. Amazing Grace Church
We are proud to partner with Amazing Grace Church, to provide much-needed support to the Amazing Grace Food Pantry. The food pantry is responsible for supplying over 5,000 pounds of food each week to underprivileged members of the community. Amazing Grace had previously been stocking their food pantry with individual donations, along with unused food from local restaurants. When we learned of Amazing Grace and the support they provide to the community, along with the challenges they face in this endeavor, we knew we needed to get involved.
Amazing Grace serves dinner on the second and fourth Wednesday of each month, and Lightshade not only provides financial support, but we also send our budtenders to help out in person. Dubbed “Dinner for a Dollar” the dinner provides a nourishing meal to community members who need it the most.
The food bank also offers needy visitors a choice of products in their shopping area. Additionally, they have an 800 square foot garden that provides produce during the summer growing season and encourages clients to take time to pick fresh vegetables while at the church.
If you’d like to learn more about Amazing Grace Church and the Amazing Grace Food Pantry, please contact them at:
(303) 280-0444
4. Project Sanctuary
Project Sanctuary supports military families where they are right now.
After years of working with military families, they have become a recognized leader in bringing health and wellness to veterans and their families. By addressing mental health first, they take families from battle ready to family ready.
Since 2007, Project Sanctuary has been helping military families thrive with six-day therapeutic retreats and an additional two years of family support services. Their evidence-based program is the only of its kind, treating the entire family, and helping veterans, spouses, caregivers, and kids heal together.
If you’d like to learn more about Project Sanctuary, please contact them at:
(720) 561-9193
info@projectsanctuary.us
5. Denver Urban Gardens
Denver Urban Gardens (DUG), knows that community is the driver of lasting change. That’s why each of their urban gardens and farms has been started and led by local residents. They currently have over 180 gardens in six counties within the Metro Denver Area.
DUG gardeners grow food, but more than that, they grow the community. They put down deep roots, providing resources, training, and support to establish enduring gardens and farms that become valuable assets to neighborhoods. All of this is done with respect for all people and the environment.
Since 1985, Denver Urban Gardens has been building and supporting community gardens in the Metro Denver Area.
If you’d like to learn more about Denver Urban Gardens, please contact them at:
dirt@dug.org or (303) 292-9900
Honorable mentions:
Servicio de la Raza
(303) 458-5851
info@serviciosdelaraza.org
Colorado Homeless Families
(303) 420-6634
info@chfrb.org
Senior Support Services
(303) 832-1622
Grant Street Reach
(720) 593-1993
tina@grantstreetreach.org
We hope you will join us in supporting individuals and organizations who make a difference each day in Colorado. Let’s show the world what the cannabis community is all about—health, positivity, healing, support, and love.
*Lightshade is proud to provide not only financial support to the organizations mentioned above but also store-based donation drives and in person volunteer hours.
Please get in touch if you’d like to know more about any of the organizations mentioned in this blog. Head over to our Cannabis Social Responsibility page to learn more about our efforts to support our communities.