The family behind the McKee Group has the passion, real estate, and township backing to be a top contender in the selection of the Philly region’s two medical marijuana grower permits.

The Springfield firm’s managing director, Frank McKee, has endured prostate cancer treatment, and daughter and vice president Jennifer McKee has been right behind him through it all, according to a Daily Local News report by Rick Kauffman.

“I, like many families, have been personally touched by cancer, childhood disease, and by veterans who have been injured,” Jennifer said. “The more research we did, the more passionate we became that cannabis-based medicines have the potential for really significant and positive clinical outcomes.”

From that passion and research came a McKee Group spinoff called MedGarden, which recently received Aston Township approval to grow and process medical marijuana.

If picked from among the 800 applicants for one of just two permits, MedGarden will set up a building it already owns with 9,000 square feet for cannabis plants, which is enough capacity to supply medical marijuana solutions to 30,000 patients per month.

Read more of the McKee Group’s story and its new MedGarden endeavor in the Daily Local News here.