How Hemp Can Help: 2024 Roundup

The quarter-century mark, 2025, looms large, but that doesn’t mean we’re slowing down here at Sunset Lake CBD. We still have plenty of lovely gifts to ship out to y’all. 

However, we do find it nice to reflect not only on all the great feedback we’ve had this year from our awesome customers but also on some of the initiatives we were able to support this year. 

Without further adieu, let’s recap our charitable contributions from this past year. 

Last Prisoner Project – $7,192.86

We teamed up with the Last Prisoner Project again this year during our 4/20 sale. As a farm that grows and makes money in the hemp and cannabis space, it still frustrates us that people are behind bars for cannabis offenses. (C’mon Joe, start commuting sentences en masse.) 

As a nonprofit, the Last Prisoner Project runs so many programs that we appreciate, the biggest being direct commissary support and post-release grants for folks who are unjustly imprisoned for cannabis use. 

Check out this organization and consider donating during our checkout process. This year, we added a round-up feature that allows you to round up your purchase to the nearest dollar. All proceeds from this tool go directly to LPP! We’ve raised $2,192.86 since late August because of your roundups! 

RAR Champlain Valley – $415

RAR stands for Radical Adventure Riders and is near and dear to our Director of Operations, Kelly! The organization organizes bike rides, backpacking trips, and community-building for femme, trans, women, and non-binary (FTWNB) folks. 

When she asked us for a donation to help support her local chapter of RAR, we enthusiastically said yes. Our donation helped support ongoing programming and helped purchase some supplies for the local chapter. 

Green Up Vermont – $3,000

Let us fill you in if you’re unfamiliar with Vermont’s special environmental holiday. Green Up Day is held on the first Saturday in May and is administered by Green Up Vermont. It’s a weekend holiday that you spend picking up trash and beautifying your neighborhood. 

Great, huh? 

That’s why this year, we donated to the Green Up Vermont and became one of the holiday’s official sponsors. Not only did we get our logo on the official Green Up trash bags, but we also cleaned the heck out of our farm and surrounding community. 

UNRWA – $1,000

UNRWA stands for United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. 

This year, with help from our friends at The Majority Report, we donated $5 from each sale made during election night to UNRWA’s Gaza Emergency Appeal and Lebanon’s Emergency Appeal. Our donation went towards getting necessities into the hands of displaced Palestinian and Lebanese families. 

Politics aside, we believe that what’s happening in Palestine, Lebanon, and now Syria is wrong, and we feel it’s our duty both as individuals and as a company to do whatever we can to staunch the suffering. 

Vermont Foodbank – $2,500

We didn’t tie in a donation to our Black Friday sale this year. 

Instead, we cut a check to Vermont Foodbank. It’s our home state of Vermont’s largest hunger relief organization and the only food bank providing food through a network of more than 300 community partners. 

Yes, we could’ve purchased a stockpile of nonperishable items and donated them to our local food shelf, but the Vermont Foodbank can stretch that money further and help the 40% of neighbors who experienced food insecurity last year. 

Vermont Public Radio – $16,680

We’re staying local with this next donation. Equitable access to information, news, and weather is incredibly important. All of the native Vermonters who now work here at Sunset Lake CBD grew up listening to Vermont public radio. Our parents listened and donated, and now we’re able to listen to donate. 

VPR provides great local coverage that most Vermonters can access for free. We couldn’t be happier being an underwriter once again.