Ayden’s Alliance and AydenPay: Helping Ayden Help Others
Ayden’s Alliance is a non-profit organization that helps U.S. military veterans, financially challenged families, and individuals offset the cost of non-traditional alternative plant-based nutraceutical medical treatment. Greenway sat down with Ashley Markum, the founder of Ayden’s Alliance, and Tom Lorenz, the founder of AydenPay, to discuss the “Story of Ayden.”
Markham, a mother of 6, has a son named Ayden who needs daily nutraceutical treatments utilizing cannabis-related medicine to treat his seizures and other ailments. Markham created the foundation after facing the many challenges of getting her son’s non-traditional alternative plant-based nutraceutical medical treatment.
“Our mission is to provide alternative plant therapy to U.S. military veterans, persons of low-income, and those with disabilities and special needs,” Markum said.
Currently, Markham, located in Southwest Missouri, is working in the state of Missouri to help special needs families have access to these alternative medical treatments, but she is also working to take the next step and has set her sights on helping individuals access all forms of alternative treatments in Missouri and beyond.
Lorenz met Markham almost a year ago at a MoCannTrade event and quickly found they share the same vision for helping people in need to gain access to plant-based nutraceutical medical treatments. Lorenz has firsthand experience with the need for and benefits of medical marijuana and their relationship quickly blossomed into the Idea for AydenPay.
Lorenz is a highly accredited banking compliance specialist and is determined to normalize banking services for the under and unbanked in the medical marijuana and related industries. He and his team created a fully compliant payment system for Markham and Ayden’s Alliance allowing them to receive donations and then distribute these funds to the individuals who need them most. This will allow the non-profit to focus more of their time on educational classes and programs to further advance the community’s knowledge, and less time on handling finances.
AydenPay emerged due to the relationship between Markham and Lorenz but has grown into a payment solution for the medical marijuana market in Missouri.
“We have created AydenPay as a compliant, convenient, private and safe way to perform transactions, including payment of merchants or beneficiaries via Electronic Funds Transfer from mobile apps or text menus,” said Lorenz.
In short, AydenPay offers a payment solution for Marijuana-Related Businesses (MRBs) in Missouri that ties patients, cultivation companies, manufacturers, and dispensaries together in a transparent regulated complaint end to end complete ecosystem connected to the Cannfind, a Metrc certified vendor offering online sourcing and inventory management. It is free to download, and a percentage of all the low transaction fees go to Ayden’s Alliance. AydenPay has assembled banks in Missouri that are working with AydenPay, their merchants and patients, offering those without bank accounts access to real business checking and other accounts at very competitive rates.
AydenPay is ready to roll out their services and will be offering a demo at MoCannBizCon 2020 at Union Station in St. Louis on the 2nd and 3rd of March, Booth 236. Stop by, visit with Lorenz and the team, learn more about Ayden’s Alliance and experience AydenPay to receive a Free Drink receipt printed by the AydenPay Team demonstrating their flexible low-cost proprietary payment POS system.
Lorenz wanted to pass on a special thank you to the free drink sponsor, 4 Hands Brewery, located just east of Union Station at 1220 S 8th St., St. Louis, Mo. for contributing one free pint for everyone who participates in the AydenPay demo at the expo.
“We are excited to be a sponsor for Ayden’s Alliance through AydenPay,” said Liz Swyers at 4 Hands Brewery. “Our City Wide Mission at 4 Hands Brewing Co. allows our brewery the opportunity to give back to the wonderful community in which we live in.”
GrowActive Solutions, a local St. Louis controlled agriculture and horticulture supply company located at 3612 Hartford St, is also offering a $10 discount on a purchase of $50 dollars or more with an AydenPay demo receipt. Lorenz thanks Beau Bradley, Manager of GrowActive Solutions, for this contribution.
“I met Markham at a MoCannTrade event last year in KC,” Bradley said. “I was inspired by her mission and we are kindred spirits when it comes to the efficacy of whole plant-based nutraceutical medicines and treatments! I am proud to be on their team!”
“From the jump, this project resonated with everyone I called,” said Lorenz. “Markham is a superhero in my eyes! Our team, from the programmers at 2D Global out of South Africa, to Leo at MGPayments, Pete from our on-the-ground marketing team – Viridis Axiom, the Greenway team, and our sponsors, all are inspired by her and are driven to take her dream and vision to the next level. We are all so very excited to help Markham and Ayden help others! Stop by our booth and let us explain how very simple it is to be part of something great while solving some major roadblocks faced by folks in the medical marijuana industry.”
“I am hopeful this will allow us to move out of the position of being self-funded, and to reach more patients,” Markham says. “That has been our number one goal from the beginning, to help as many patients as we can. This will allow us to not worry so much about finances, and to focus more on providing educational classes. I am blown away by the generosity of Lorenz and his team, and I am so excited to see where this goes. Beyond Missouri, even.”