Community Outreach

Harvest of committed to positively impacting the communities we touch.

As leaders in the medical marijuana industry, we strive to improve the lives of our customers, employees, and communities through education, outreach, volunteerism, and philanthropy.

We're here for good.

Harvest is beholden to its employees, customers, and neighborhoods, who inspire us  to extend our influence beyond the walls of our stores. Our ever-growing portfolio of community involvement initiatives and activities include those that support employee empowerment, health, education, research, activism, and charitable partnerships.

Employee Empowerment

Recognizing that Harvest’s dedicated employees want meaningful opportunities to serve their communities, we established a Volunteer Time Off Policy (VTO) to provide employees with paid time off from regularly scheduled work hours to perform volunteer services with an approved organization.

Health

Since 2013, we have contributed time, resources, and financial support to a wide variety of health and human services groups, including organizations whose missions address seizure disorders, PTSD, cancer treatment and research, dementia, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, chronic pain, medical training, and medical marijuana legalization. Examples include free mobile mammography at Harvest retail stores, presentations to a variety of patient and healthcare provider audiences, participation in health fairs, and financial donations.

Additionally, in 2014 we established Harvesting Hope, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based out of Tempe, Arizona, which aims to create a better quality of life for young children suffering from pediatric epilepsy. Harvesting Hope provides education, support groups, and financial assistance to families and their children and has established relationships with the Epilepsy Foundation and Phoenix Children’s Hospital, among other medical organizations, to help facilitate support.

Charitable Partners

Since 2013, Harvest has donated time, resources, and financial support to charitable organizations, veterans, seniors, and patients in need. Recipient organizations include:

ORGANIZATIONS INCLUDE:

Harvest continually seeks ways to support organizations serving Health, Human Services, and Social Equity causes and make strategic impacts though medical marijuana philanthropy. In support of this effort, Harvest has established the Harvesting Goodness donations program. Through Harvesting Goodness, customers have the opportunity to round up their purchase to include a donation to a pre-selected charitable partner.

For the launch of Harvesting Goodness, which ran in our Arizona dispensaries at the end of 2020, we are excited to have partnered with DAV (Disabled American Veterans). We are immensely proud of and grateful for our Arizona dispensary employees and the hundreds of donating patients who raised over $11,600 for the veterans served by DAV! This combined effort made the inaugural Harvesting Goodness partnership a resounding success. We look forward to future Harvesting Goodness partnerships with DAV and other organizations to support their invaluable efforts in Harvest communities and beyond.

DAV is a leading nonprofit that provides a lifetime of support for veterans of all generations and their families. Every year, the organization helps more than 1 million veterans in positive, life-changing ways by helping them access benefits they earned, like healthcare, education and disability, and connecting them to meaningful employment opportunities.

Education

We prioritize education both inside and outside of Harvest, ensuring our staff and our customers are confident in their medical marijuana information, understanding, and purchases. Our two-prong education platform includes internal (employee training) and external (public education) components:

Employee Training

Harvest’s Learning and Development team maintains expertise in teaching and learning by staying up to date in best practices in employee training. The result is a comprehensive employee training program, embedded throughout with engaging, evidence-based methodologies.

Every Harvest employee undergoes an extensive sequenced three-stage onboarding training program that includes multi-modal and experiential learning. Ongoing learning and development includes weekly staff meetings, a weekly newsletter, annual refresher trainings, and continuing education options to ensure everyone stays up to speed on the latest medical marijuana advancements and is well qualified to recommend solutions for individual customer needs.

Public Education

Whether you are new to medical marijuana or a longtime user, our highly trained staff will help you find the products that are best for your unique needs. For anyone looking for a deep dive into medical marijuana topics (e.g., the endocannabinoid system, medicinal uses, methods of use and dosing, state programs), Harvest invites you to Ask Dr. Troutt, a free online educational presentation led by Dr. William Troutt, Harvest’s Director of Medical Education, and David Grandon, Harvest’s Outreach Coordinator. Great for new and experienced users alike, learn all about medical marijuana and get your questions answered.  You can view our upcoming Ask Dr. Troutt and other education events here.

Dr. Troutt also provides invited presentations to organizations and groups throughout the country, including patient, caregiver, and healthcare provider audiences. Recent presentations and topics include:

• Medical Marijuana in Pennsylvania – Latino Connection: The Road to New American Health
• Medical Marijuana and Parkinson’s – Philadelphia Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorder Center
• Medical Marijuana and Cancer – Cancer Support Community Arizona
• Medical Marijuana and Seniors – Northern Arizona Nursing School
• North Dakota Health Department Medical Marijuana Program – Sanford Health
• Medical Marijuana and Epilepsy – Arizona Epilepsy Foundation Annual Conference
• Medical Marijuana 101 – Americans for Safe Access National Medical Marijuana Unity Conference
• Medical Marijuana Assisted Living – Assisted Living Federation of America

Research

In addition to staying current on medical marijuana trends, news, and scientific findings, Harvest founded the Medical Marijuana Research Institute (MMRI) to establish Harvest’s role in answering important questions through novel medical marijuana research. MMRI researchers include Harvest’s Director of Medical Education, Dr. William Troutt, Harvest’s Director of Research and Evaluation, Dr. Matthew DiDonato, and Harvest’s Licensing and Evaluation Specialist, Dr. Tashia Abry.

Past MMRI studies include an investigation of Arizona medical marijuana patients’ characteristics, perceptions, and behaviors, and a study of the carbonyl compounds produced by heating medical marijuana oil thinning agents. Currently, MMRI researchers are preparing a large survey-based study of the reasons, patterns, and preferences of medical marijuana use among medical and recreational users to understand associations between medical marijuana use and a variety of physical health, mental health, and quality of life outcomes.

Troutt, W. D., & DiDonato, M. D. (2017). Carbonyl compounds produced by vaporizing medical marijuana oil thinning agents. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 23, 879-884.

Troutt, W. D., & DiDonato, M. D. (2015). Medical medical marijuana in Arizona: Patient characteristics, perceptions, and impressions of medical marijuana legalization. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 47, 259-266.

Activism

We believe democracy thrives when its citizens are informed and engaged. That is why we are proud to have partnered with the civic organization HeadCount to help medical marijuana voters grow their power in the 2020 election and beyond through the Medical Marijuana Voter Project (CVP). With the CVP, we helped to register, educate, and turn out voters who care about medical marijuana policy, elevating the voices of this community in the national dialogue. Learn more and register at www.medical marijuanavoter.info.