By: David Sodemann
Lilach Power, the founder and managing director of The Giving Tree Dispensary, has a long history of pushing the limit.
Opening in 2013, The Giving Tree began with Lilach’s vision to provide alternative care to the community. Along with growing, extracting, and providing patients medical marijuana, they also brought in services for their patients including massage, acupuncture, reiki and yoga – an unheard of proposition for any dispensary in Arizona and most of the country. Through trial and error, these services proved to be underutilized and were eventually phased out – but that hasn’t stopped Lilach from leading the charge in what’s to come in the worldwide cannabis scene.
Many know The Giving Tree as a local Arizona dispensary from which to purchase quality, pesticide-free flower in a clean, professional atmosphere. They may also recognize them as innovators: the creators of the high-end brand Kindred Cannabis and the newly launched extracts brand Katatonic. But what many don’t know is what’s happening outside Arizona.
How about Puerto Rico?
The Giving Tree and their sister company, Encanto Tree, are near completion on a state-of-the-art cultivation and extraction facility on the southern side of the island. The facility will include a fully-automated greenhouse, a climate controlled environment, 50,000 sq. ft of cultivation, 6,000 sq. ft of extraction and a concrete bunker as a failsafe for hurricanes, a feature added after a hard lesson.
The Puerto Rico project was supposed to be completed last year, but the devastation from Hurricane Maria destroyed the entire project. Through resilience, dedication and great support from the Puerto Rico government, Giving Tree’s Puerto Rico arm will be completed later this year, including the opening of four new dispensaries on the northern side of the island.
Through all the devastation in Puerto Rico, Lilach and her team are making an effort to give back to the community by teaming up with a local group on the island called the Ricky Martin Foundation that fights human trafficking. It’s an extension of what she’s doing in Arizona through the Giving Tree and Kindred brands – a cornerstone of Lilach’s vision from the beginning.
Aside from the expansion in Puerto Rico, Lilach is bringing her expertise back to her native country of Israel. Breaking ground in just 60 days, Lilach and her team are involved in building a GMP and GAP certified facility to grow cannabis. The production facility will include 25,000 sq. ft of indoor cultivation and an extraction lab. The project will be one-of-a-kind in Israel, a country known for its cannabis research and clinical trials, a luxury not currently allowed in the United States.
Following the completion of the facility in Yakum, Israel, The Giving Tree plans to open a dispensary of the same name nearby and will sell the Kindred Cannabis brand many in Arizona have grown to love.
With projects moving forward in Puerto Rico and Israel, The Giving Tree has its eyes set on expanding within the U.S. with upcoming deals in the works to spread their brand from the west coast to the east coast.
For most businesses, five years of existence feels young. Yet, in the cannabis industry it feels like a lifetime. Perhaps it’s because of the pace of this industry and its propensity for rapid change. Though much has changed since Giving Tree’s launch in 2013 one thing has stayed the same. Lilach won’t stop moving forward.
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About the Author
David Sodemann is a key member of Lilach’s team at The Giving Tree Wellness Center and Kindred. A beloved and well-respected member of Arizona’s MMJ community, David announced this week that he is leaving his position to focus 100% on his other thriving business…building amazing camper vans for others to buy or rent. We all wish David great success. Check out his adventures on the BOHO Camper Van website below!
