Autumn Brands will be pledging funds during the month of October to the Breast Cancer Resource Center of Santa Barbara.
Since 1985, in the United States, October is widely recognized as National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
A lot of businesses, both small and large, try to do what they can to support the thousands afflicted by the illness every year.
This year, Autumn Brands is among the small businesses joining the cause.
In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the Carpinteria-based licensed cannabis cultivator, will be pledging 50 cents from every jar featuring a pink tamper seal to the Breast Cancer Resource Center of Santa Barbara.
“We are a 50% women-owned business and there’s not too many degrees of separation from somebody that you know that had breast cancer or you know that either recovered or didn’t recover,” Autumn Shelton, one of the owners of Autumn Brands, told the News-Press.
“This is something that is dear to our hearts and we want to support so we are so excited to be able to partner with this incredible organization here locally in Santa Barbara and give back.”
The campaign will last until every jar is sold or until the end of the month.
“I am pretty confident they will sell pretty quickly within two weeks to four weeks,” Ms. Shelton said, adding that Autumn Brands has been wanting to be involved in Breast Cancer Awareness Month the last few years.
When the company looked into it, they ended up reaching out to a few national organizations to donate to.
“They (said they) would not accept donations from a cannabis company so I kind of felt very saddened by that, that we weren’t able to really support them even though this is just still an amazing plant,” Ms. Shelton said.
This year, they decided to look for some more local options to try to give back to the community. Eventually, the Breast Cancer Resource Center of Santa Barbara stepped up, saying it would be open to receiving donations from a cannabis company.
“The more we looked into them, the more we fell in love with them and wanted to partner with them,” Ms. Shelton said. “This organization is there for people that struggle with breast cancer every step of the way and they offer so many amazing services.”
Ms. Shelton said she has received emails over the years about the help cannabis can provide those with all types of cancer. It’s part of the reason the company was so receptive to helping out the cause.
“Cannabis helps them relax, helps them feel better. Some even say it reduces tumors, so being a part of all these different elements that cannabis can help is exciting,” she said.
Another big part of why they have been wanting to participate for years is they love giving back.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Autumn Brands, along with other cannabis growers in Santa Barbara County, have been committed to giving back.
They have bought their employees lunches, donated to local schools and also donated to the local community.
“We are just proud to be able to do one great thing in providing a very natural, pesticide-free product and then be able to donate funds so that these organizations can continue to support those suffering,” Ms. Shelton said.
She added that she is excited to be a part of this campaign, especially because the cannabis industry hasn’t been hit quite as hard by the pandemic, allowing them to give some of that money back.
“We’ve been hitting new milestones which has been pretty incredible and exciting, so we’re just glad that people really enjoy our product and they understand and respect who we are,” Ms. Shelton said.
While Autumn Brands has donated in the past, Ms. Shelton said that this particular partnership is the largest donation it has made in its history.
She hopes this is just the first year of many that Autumn Brands will be giving back for breast cancer awareness.
“This will always be part of our business and as we grow and as long as we are able, we will continue to donate to different organizations and continue to seek out more that we can partner with and give back to as many as we can,” Ms. Shelton said.
email: jmercado@newspress.com
