Granny Purps stocked Second Harvest pantry with nearly 11,000 pounds of food donated by medical marijuana customers

Phil Hicks has discovered the secret to turning a Second Harvest Food Bank fundraiser into a raging success in Santa Cruz: Medical marijuana packaged in a pre-rolled joint.

The co-owner of Granny Purps, a medical marijuana dispensary on 41st Avenue, found offering a joint propels the motivation factor to epic proportions.

The dispensary would give one joint to people who brought in four cans of food. (There were limits on the promotion, of course.)

"We literally gave away 2,000 doobies," said Hicks on Monday. "You could raid your mom's fridge and come up big time."

Granny Purps, a mom-and-pop pot shop with a staff of eight, was one of the leaders in the county in number of pounds donated to the food bank this holiday season. Since Nov. 1, the dispensary has donated nearly 11,000 pounds of food.

As of Dec. 22, the total donated is 10,200 pounds said Hicks. But there are three more over-flowing barrels filled to the top that still need to be picked up. And each barrel weighs between 250 to 300 pounds.

And the bigger organizations in the county were no match for Granny Purps.

"They called and told me I was competing with Dominican Hospital and Safeway," he said. "Not the Safeway across the street, Safeway stores of Santa Cruz County—all of them."

This year, Second Harvest's goal was to collect more than 2 million pounds of food. The group feeds an estimated 50,000 Santa Cruz County hungry residents each month, half of them are children.

"They are definitely champions," said Danny Keith, chief development officer for Second Harvest. "For being one independent business and not participating in the past, to come out of the gate and be raising over 10,000 pounds of food is a phenomenal feat."

Keith said Granny Purps found an effective way to engage their customers.

"It is Santa Cruz County, so you've got an eclectic mix of businesses," he said. "It just goes to show if the owners of the business are focused on a goal and have a product the customers want, it's going to help out a lot of families in the county."

Hicks said it's the patients who made it happen, and he gives them all the credit.

"1,900 patients—that's what it's all about," he said.

And most of them, Hicks knows by name. He greets each person who enters the dispensary by name as he checks their identification.

And most of the regulars—Hicks said about half of the patients are regulars—brought in some canned food.

Hicks said one woman who was moving out of the area brought in an enormous amount of food. She brought in 25-pound bags of rice and tons of cans, but declined the offer of the joints.

"I told her to take the pre-rolls," said Hicks. "She was gonna need them for her move."

Another gentleman, he said, brought in 20 6-pound cans of fruit cocktail.

"When we started this, there were literally five cans of food in the single barrel for two weeks straight," said Hicks.

It was that empty barrel that spurred the need for a promotion. Since it started,  "We pretty much averaged a barrel a day," said Hicks. 

Monday afternoon, Hicks was still fielding calls for the promotion, which ended on Friday. But that doesn't need to stop folks from bringing in donations. He's still happy to take them.

"Bring it in," he said.

RUTH SCHNEIDER

Santa Cruz Patch