Drew Wilson
The state’s largest medical marijuana company will spend the next month spreading the word on the social services available to Floridians affected by the coronavirus outbreak.
Trulieve announced a public livestream series, dubbed “TruTalks,” on Friday.
The company said the streams will be aired in half-hour increments and contain information relevant to all Floridians, not just medical marijuana patients. The TruTalks will be viewable through Trulieve’s YouTube channel.
Trulieve said the series is a way it can give back to the communities that helped it sprout from an upstart to a major, publicly-traded cannabis vendor.
“Over the past four years, we’ve grown from one store to 45 throughout the State of Florida, and we wouldn’t be able to do that without the support of the communities we become a part of,” CEO Kim Rivers said. “From the beginning, one of our driving goals as a company has been to increase and deliver accessibility to Florida’s patients.
“The current COVID-19 pandemic has been devastating to so many; not just to our Trulievers, but to the communities we are fortunate to call home. We feel honored that we can use our platform to help our fellow Floridians find, access, and understand the resources available to them and are thankful to our long-term community partners in helping us do so.”
For the inaugural stream, Trulieve is partnering with Lutheran Social Services, a national organization with offices in Jacksonville, Florida. Lutheran Social Services of Northeast Florida operates four distinct community outreach programs with the overall goal “to help those facing hardships stabilize their lives and earn a fresh start.”
The discussion, which goes live Saturday at noon, will feature LSSNF’s Bill Brim covering the unemployment application process, food pantries, and how to navigate health insurance problems.
The second TruTalk, scheduled for Tuesday at noon, will see Colleen Thayer of the National Institute on Mental Illness of Sarasota County inform viewers about mental health resources available during the current crisis.
NAMI Sarasota is a nonprofit “dedicated to improving the lives of individuals with illness … through support, education, awareness, and advocacy.”
