Helping local causes a priority for Big Mountain Botanicals

A few months ago when Whitefish was covered with snow, the community rallied around a former ski patroller to help make his log cabin more livable as he dealt with some health issues. Now, Gary Cabell’s health is improving and his home has plumbing and running water.

“We made some great progress as far as the bare necessities, what you just need to be a human, as far as running water and functional septic,” said Jesse Miller, Cabell’s neighbor and founder and CEO of Big Mountain Botanicals (BMB).

They also cleared the access to Cabell’s house and gave him safe egress by increasing the elevation of his parking area and replacing the porch stairs with a low-elevation ramp.

Miller said the next step is to add a level of comfort to the home and complete some finishing touches to the inside of the cabin. Weather made this job difficult in the winter, so now is the time for a final push.

“All the materials for the interior of his house to be finished are sitting on his porch,” Miller said.

“Finishing the interior will allow us to clear the deck and put up a handrail and kind of finish things off for him.”

Miller described this as a manageable job and said there is also some cleanup that could be done around the property, so a few hours of skilled and unskilled labor are needed.

Cabell is very appreciative of the community for all the help at his home and for the donations to the ongoing GoFundMe campaign. His health is improving and his spirit is strong. Rather than seeing a physical therapist to build muscle and balance, he said, “I'm doing it by myself.”

His goal is to build enough strength to be able to ski with DREAM Adaptive Recreation this winter. Just the thought of it brings a big smile to his face.

“DREAM hopes to help Gary get back on the ski hill if he needs some support, whether it be through adaptive equipment or adaptive instruction or just being a safe landing spot for him to work with us to see what he’s capable of,” said DREAM Executive Director Julie Tickle.

Cara Lederman, Sales and Marketing Manager at Big Mountain Botanicals, helped spearhead the efforts to help Cabell and make improvements to his cabin, along with the company’s owners, Miller, David Laing and Rachel Gustin.

“It's been an amazing community effort,” Lederman said. “We wanted to let everyone know how their donations have helped make this work possible and how grateful Gary is.”

THE TEAM at Big Mountain Botanicals is not only supporting Cabell’s desires to ski with DREAM Adaptive, but they are major contributors to the local nonprofit that provides year-round outdoor adaptive recreational opportunities to people in the valley. BMB’s connection to the DREAM organization is deep.

David Laing’s mother, Shelley Laing, was pregnant with David when she was involved in a car accident that left her paralyzed from the waist down. Miller called fellow BMB owner, David, a “miracle baby.”

Shelley was an early board member and advocate as well as a participant in DREAM Adaptive Recreation from the late 1980s. At that time, she played many roles as DREAM was working on advocacy for the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and with community entities on making parks and public buildings more accessible.

David remembers watching his mom ski on Big Mountain and participate with DREAM. That connection is one reason BMB is a top sponsor of the organization.

“They are a key sponsor of ours and we’re glad to partner with them and grateful for the history of Shelley and David and how much impact DREAM has made in their lives, personally,” Tickle said. “Now as a community business owner they are giving back and they first-hand understand the importance of inclusive outdoor recreation. I think the full-circleness of it just shows how special this community is and how connected it is.”

Nearly all of BMB’s 30 employees are from the Flathead or have lived here for many years so they are connected to the community and most participate in the outdoor recreational opportunities that abound.

“We’re huge advocates for their program (DREAM). Pretty much all of us are outdoor enthusiasts and we want to help promote programs that help make that accessible to everyone,” Lederman said. “So it’s perfect alignment with our vision and goals.”

BMB ALSO supports the Nate Chute Foundation by hosting weekly yoga classes at their Whitefish location every Thursday morning before the dispensary opens. The classes are for any age or ability and are free. A $5 donation is appreciated and every dollar goes to the Nate Chute Foundation.

“It's a way for us to raise awareness of the Nate Chute Foundation,” Lederman said. “Yoga and cannabis go hand in hand for mental health and wellness.”

Currently, the classes are led by a Kundalini instructor but the goal is to offer other types of yoga, too. Kundalini yoga incorporates more breath work as opposed to physical postures and Lederman said it is a style suited for promoting mental health.

“We really appreciate everything the Nate Chute Foundation does,” said Lederman. “We all know people that, unfortunately, passed away due to suicide, so it’s really important to raise awareness and let everyone know their program exists here and they’re doing amazing work.”

Next month, BMB is involved with two more charitable events. On Aug. 19, the Corn Dog Days of Summer, a fundraiser for the Humane Society, will be held on the grounds of the Stillwater Bar where there will be games on the lawn and Forage Catering will be on hand.

“We are huge dog lovers so we’re happy to be behind that, helping out,” she said.

On Aug. 18-19, BMB is co-hosting a fundraising event with Galaxy Glass, a local glass shop next door to the Jellison Road location of BMB. The two-day, outdoor fundraising event called Glow for RSO will feature live glass blowing and naturopaths who will speak about the efficacy of RSO, a specific type of cannabis extract that has benefits for some cancer patients.

“There have been lots of very positive results that people have experienced using RSO in conjunction with cancer treatments,” said Miller.

In addition to educating the public about RSO, the event aims to raise funds to provide treatments of RSO to cancer patients in the Flathead Valley.

“We’d like to see other providers in the state step up to the plate to make donations to try and fuel that too,” added Miller. “We’ll be asking some of our colleagues in this industry to try and help.”

MILLER WAS born in Kalispell and feels a deep connection with the Flathead Valley. He created the Big Mountain Botanicals brand in 2018 when he was growing medical marijuana on his property in Whitefish. He said he knew the legalization of recreational marijuana was on the horizon.

“That’s why we started gearing up and getting organized,” he said. “(We had our) run with medical, got our feet wet and got familiar with operating a retail space and boom, it got really crazy really quick.”

Growing the plants requires care, expertise and space. BMB has two growing facilities.

“We’ve got a large cultivation facility at the Jellison location for our indoor and then we have a very large outdoor facility at my property in Whitefish,” Miller said. “We’ve got somebody tending to it exclusively, so it’s getting the care it needs and we’ve finally figured out how to work with the harsh Montana weather. It’s looking good and I'm really excited.”

Miller along with his partners, Laing and Gustin, recently opened their third BMB location. The dispensary in Columbia Falls on Jellison Lane opened in 2019 and was the first store. The Whitefish location has been open for one year and the newest BMB dispensary just south of Kalispell on Highway 93 opened this week.

“Growing up in the Flathead Valley (means) embracing our environment and trying to take care of it and the community,” Miller said. “My wife is a teacher and she’s really inspired me to do good and be good and having this enterprise has now afforded me the opportunity to give back.”

BMB’s support of a wide variety of local nonprofit organizations and charities is one way that Miller and the team at BMB are serving the community and “doing good things.”

“Anytime someone in the community is in need, like Gary, we are 100% behind supporting that, helping with fundraising efforts,” added Lederman.

To donate to Cabell’s GoFundMe campaign, visit: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-a-local-legend, or for more information on BMB visit https://www.bigmountainbotanicals.com/