{"id":2729,"date":"2023-06-05T21:36:01","date_gmt":"2023-06-06T04:36:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mintdeals.com\/florida\/mint-cannabis-surprises-four-valley-families-with-some-green-for-the-holidays\/"},"modified":"2024-08-01T16:35:03","modified_gmt":"2024-08-01T23:35:03","slug":"mint-cannabis-surprises-four-valley-families-with-some-green-for-the-holidays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mintdeals.com\/florida\/mint-cannabis-surprises-four-valley-families-with-some-green-for-the-holidays\/","title":{"rendered":"Mint Cannabis Surprises Four Valley Families With Some Green for the Holidays"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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A green van pulled up to a tidy brick Mesa home on the morning of December 21, and out hopped a real-life Santa Claus \u2014 the co-owner and COO of Mint Cannabis,<\/a> Raul Molina \u2014 and three employee “elves” bearing a Christmas surprise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They knocked on the door, and when Mario Alberto N\u00fa\u00f1ez Guzm\u00e1n emerged, they gave him $1,000 to help with anything he and his family needs. Guzm\u00e1n was moved to tears when he saw the oversize check.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guzm\u00e1n wasn’t the only one to be greeted with a little extra green the week before Christmas. For its Adopt-A-Family program, Mint Cannabis asks employees, community advocates, and others to nominate families that have extraordinary needs. The company helps four before Thanksgiving and four at Christmas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Molina said he\u2019s been helping people personally during the holidays for about two decades. \u201cIt helps me enjoy my holiday even more,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Miguel Alvarado nominated his friend Guzm\u00e1n, a DJ who used to have a thriving career spinning at fiestas, weddings, and quincea\u00f1eras. But after a serious bout of COVID-19 and pneumonia in June 2020, his health spiraled downward, and he\u2019s been unable to work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI found out I was diabetic and developed hypertension,\u201d Guzm\u00e1n said. \u201cBy December, I was back in the hospital with kidney failure. It changed my whole life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, he\u2019s on dialysis three times a week for four hours each day and needs a kidney transplant. \u201cI don\u2019t know how long I\u2019m going to be on dialysis,\u201d Guzm\u00e1n said. \u201cI don\u2019t know how long I\u2019m going to last.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though he has no medical insurance, he\u2019s been getting by with help from family and friends. Guzm\u00e1n said he was booked for 60 events in 2020 before the pandemic shutdown, and his subsequent illness put him out of business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI never in my life thought I\u2019d go through this,\u201d Guzm\u00e1n said. He\u2019d always been the one to care for his wife and teenage son and daughter, he noted, and now he\u2019s the one being taken care of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though it’s hard not to be the breadwinner, he appreciates the support from Alvarado and Mint Cannabis. \u201cEvery little penny helps,\u201d Guzm\u00e1n said. And, he added, \u201cIt\u2019s not just the money \u2014 people checking on you, talking to you, making sure you\u2019re OK.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bilingual Guzm\u00e1n also keeps up his spirits by sharing heart-wrenching updates on his medical condition, tests, and treatments in Spanish on his TikTok channel, @marioalbertonunez.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guzm\u00e1n didn’t yet know how he’ll use the $1,000 from Mint Cannabis and noted he was just happy to be planning to spend Christmas weekend with family. \u201cI\u2019m blessed to be alive,\u201d he said. \u201cBeing close to God, close to the Lord, is what keeps me motivated.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2018We Could All Do More\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This week, Mint Cannabis also surprised three others: a mother of two who fled from domestic violence and is living with her children in a Tempe motel, a single mom of nine in Laveen, and a single mom of three in west Phoenix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Molina gives money instead of toys, clothing, or other gifts since other associations handle that, he said. Besides, he added, people don\u2019t always know what a family\u2019s other needs might be. However, he laments that he can\u2019t do more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s tough these days because there are a lot of people in need, and it\u2019s tough to pick and choose who we\u2019re going to help,” Molina said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Molina and Mint Cannabis co-owner and CEO Eivan Shahara have donated more than $3 million locally to those in need since the dispensary’s founding in 2017, according to the company. Molina also is devoted to helping people in Guadalupe, where Mint Cannabis is headquartered, and those experiencing homelessness. He and his daughters hand out personal items in areas where unsheltered people liveand Mint Cannabis also recently held a fundraiser to provide them with mobile bathrooms and showers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Molina said it’s sad to see the number of people newly experiencing homelessness through no fault of their own. \u201cNow you\u2019re starting to see people like you and me who were living check-to-check, and then someone got COVID, or someone got sick, or the company shut down, and now you\u2019re living in the street or living in a car.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though Molina acknowledged what he and Mint Cannabis do to help \u201cis very little compared to what the need is,\u201d he said it will get worse unless other people do what they can, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI myself am blessed. I have an incredible support team and incredible family,\u201d Molina said. \u201cWe could all do more. We could all be better humans.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A green van pulled up to a tidy brick Mesa home on the morning of December 21, and out hopped a real-life Santa Claus \u2014 the co-owner and COO of Mint… Continue reading Mint Cannabis Surprises Four Valley Families With Some Green for the Holidays<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,13,19,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-arizona","category-cannabis","category-dispensary","category-events","entry"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mintdeals.com\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mintdeals.com\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mintdeals.com\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mintdeals.com\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mintdeals.com\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2729"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mintdeals.com\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2729\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2732,"href":"https:\/\/mintdeals.com\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2729\/revisions\/2732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mintdeals.com\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mintdeals.com\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mintdeals.com\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}