Denver's 2017 Health & Fitness Expo
Each year, Denver hosts the Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon. This event features a two-day Health & Fitness Expo prior to the race. The event is free and open to the public, “this expo features the latest in running technologies, fitness apparel, health & nutrition information and interactive displays.” Lightshade was proud to be an exhibitor with Mary’s Medicinals at this year’s expo.
At the event, we spoke to athletes about the benefits of CBD and how products like Mary’s Medicinals Muscle Freeze combines CBD and natural plant extracts for a soothing, cooling effect on sore muscles. We want to educate athletes about the benefits of cannabis and how it can fit into their active lifestyles.
Cannabis topicals include oils, lotions, balms, and salves infused with active cannabinoids. They are applied directly to your skin and, although some topicals may contain THC, the effects are typically non-psychoactive as the dermal skin layer absorbs most, if not all the compounds before any reach the bloodstream. If a topical is applied liberally to a venous region, such as the wrist, an overall relaxation effect may be experienced. The limited absorption and regionalized effects make topical products a terrific way enjoy the anti-inflammation and pain relieving aspects of cannabis, particularly in targeting specific regions of the body like sore joints or aching muscles, making them great products for athletes.
The most effective way to apply topicals would be to massage the product well into the affected area. If the patient is seeking relief from muscle spasms, combining the topical with heat would be most effective. Topicals can be used on joints, rashes and normally is combined with other ingredients to reduce pain and inflammation of affected areas. Topicals have become an increasingly popular method of consumption method in part due to their benign nature. At Lightshade we carry a broad selection from offering different mixtures of cannabinoids and herbs for general relief, performance sports and more.
Teaming up with Project Worthmore and Denver Urban Gardens
Here at Lightshade, we are extremely passionate about our corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative. We aim to remain active in the Denver community through volunteering and working with various organizations like The Gathering Place and most recently, Project Worthmore and Denver Urban Gardens. Last week, members of Lightshade and kindColorado volunteered at Delany Community Farm.
Delaney Community Farm is a partnership between Denver Urban Gardens and Project Worthmore. It is a 5-acre farm that provides refugees access to farming, healthy food and a community here in Denver. Their mission is to “support refugees from the local community through community-based food security programs.”
We pulled weeds, harvested vegetables, prepared the farm for winter, as well as sorted and packaged harvested vegetables and herbs. This is our second time volunteering with Delany Community Farm and we couldn’t have been more thrilled to be back. Thank you to Denver Urban Gardens and Project Worthmore for having us!
You can read more about our CSR initiative here and more of our work with Delaney Community Farm.
https://vimeo.com/236140382
Lightshade Hosts Quarterly Vendor Night
At Lightshade, we believe in investing in the education of our employees. Through our quarterly vendor nights, we provide our staff with information and product knowledge on the inventory we sell.
We want to be certain our employees are well-educated so we are able to provide customers with the best possible service and help them make better choices when shopping with us. We are currently the only dispensary in Colorado that sponsors company events like this one every quarter.
At our most recent vendor night, we had 150 people in attendance and 18 vendors including Kaviar, Wana Brands, Mary’s Medicinals and many more.
This is an incredible opportunity for vendors and budtenders to connect and engage with one another. It is also a time that budtenders are able to ask vendors questions they often receive from customers. In addition to our vendor nights, we have a training and development portal where vendors can upload training materials for budtenders to confirm they are always knowledgeable about the products we sell.
Check out our vendor night video to learn more.
https://vimeo.com/233689577
Lightshade Gives Back
Giving back to the community has always been important to Lightshade. As a part of our corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative, we aim to limit our effects on the environment and remain active in our community.
Lightshade is in the process of testing high-efficiency LED lights and building a state-of-the-art greenhouse facility to reduce our carbon footprint. We continue to facilitate recycling programs at each retail location and in our cultivation facilities within compliance regulations. In addition, Lightshade uses organic-based pest control methods and makes their own organic nutrients, which are used in each cultivation facility. We maximize watering efficiencies by using capillary mats and as a result, very little water is wasted.
Although Lightshade works hard to help out the local community, some non-profit organizations are hesitant to work with cannabis-related businesses. Since cannabis is still illegal from a federal standpoint, some nonprofits are concerned about losing their 501c3 status or federal grant funding by working with cannabis industry partners. Additionally, some of the companies’ partners, board members or financial supporters may not look favorably on the cannabis industry.
Despite some hurdles, Lightshade is ahead of the industry in creating a CSR program that started in the fall of 2016. We have engaged our employees to form a CSR Team with representatives from each retail location and created a two-tier program to support hyper-local initiatives, as well as one or two larger corporate initiatives year-round. Lightshade’s current focus is to make an impact on combating hunger and homelessness.
Lightshade is working with Kind Colorado to determine the best fit for supporting local organizations such as volunteering at food banks, building urban gardens or working with veterans. Lightshade has supported The Gathering Place to provide funding and food and toiletry drives for homeless women and children. We are also sponsoring Manny’s SummerFest on May 20th, a fundraising event for Senior Support Services, which provides food and services for homeless seniors.
We greatly appreciate the continued business from so many loyal customers that help us in supporting our local community. Lightshade is building a corporate culture of giving back and creating a framework that provides our employees with opportunities to understand how important it is to give back to the communities that we serve. Stay tuned for more information on upcoming causes and how you can help make a difference!