As a 16-year-old, Matt Huron watched his community suffer from an epidemic. His father became ill, his father’s partner and most of their friends were all afflicted. He remembers a distinct and very real sense of fear and uncertainty that defined that time.

It was the late 80’s. The Aids/HIV epidemic had arrived in San Francisco and it was ravaging the gay community.  Huron and his father decided they needed to start helping out and giving back somehow, through those strange and troubling times. Huron volunteered at a hospice center for Aids/HIV patients, which he says, left a profound and lasting impact on him. And around 2000, he and his father started growing and literally giving away medicinal cannabis to Aids/HIV facilities and hospices.

And now, as the COVID pandemic has spread across America and taken so many American lives, Huron is seeing it happen all over again.

“You know, the emotions of my childhood and everything have been coming back,” he says. “Just seeing how the community right now is suffering and having the same feelings of uncertainty and this fear of the unknown and of where this is all going.”

So, just like he and his father had done decades prior, Huron stepped up to the plate to lend a helping hand to his struggling community. His cannabis organization, Good Chemistry Nurseries just made a $50,000 donation to the Colorado COVID-19 relief fund. And on top of that, they dug into their own nursery storage supplies to contribute a haul of 600 N-95 masks, which will go to healthcare workers in hospitals throughout the state.  

“I just felt that it was in the spirit of Good Chemistry to do this,” he says, “The pillars of this organization are science, access, dignity and compassion. So I just felt that it was important for us to give back during such a challenging time.”

It’s in Good Chemistry’s DNA, he says. It’s who they are and who they have been from the start: a company dedicated to helping their community and serving those in need, particularly during times like these.

“This is the largest donation the Colorado COVID Relief Fund has received from the cannabis industry to date,” Governor Jared Polis commented in a press release on the donation. “We are grateful for Good Chemistry’s contribution, and we hope it inspires others in the cannabis industry and in other industries across the state to support our ongoing relief efforts.”

It may not have been the easiest thing for Good Chemistry to do, but it was certainly the right one. Huron acknowledges that they’re facing the same challenges that every business (and individual) is dealing with right now: shifting regulations, financial uncertainty, fear of the unknown future. But to his mind, he didn’t have a choice — he needed to help out somehow.  

“I just made a decision that this was something that we needed to do,” he says. “I'm hopeful that it will bring some relief to our medical community, and also, to those that are out of work and need some support.”