On October 27, 2016, Random Acts of Flowers’ Founder and CEO Larsen Jay and GROW Special Guest Chris Lambton, star of HGTV’s Going Yard and former contestant on The Bachelorette, appeared on WATE Knoxville to talk about the organization and the GROW 2016 event.
WTSP 10 News’ Bobby on the Road visited the RAF Tampa Bay branch yesterday and tried his hand at floral arranging.
On October 18, 2016, RAF Knoxville’s Executive Director Jen Sheehan appeared on WATE to talk about GROW 2016.
INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) – No one likes being at the hospital – but one new local organization is doing something to give patients a little happiness.
Random Acts of Flowers opened a branch Thursday in Indianapolis. It’s the charity’s fifth branch nationwide.
The group collects donations of flowers from weddings and other events where arrangements may otherwise be thrown out. Volunteers give the flowers a fresh cut and fresh water, then create new bouquets, which are hand delivered to a healthcare facility in less than 24 hours.
Thursday, about 75 patients at Eskenazi Health received flowers from the group.
“Random Acts of Flowers is spreading cheer through floral bouquets in a new city. The nonprofit is expanding to Indianapolis, and made its first delivery there Thursday morning.
RAF was founded in Knoxville in 2008, and is now operating in five cities across the country. Its mission is to improve the emotional health and wellbeing of individuals in health care and assisted living facilities by delivering bouquets of flowers recycled from weddings, special events and memorials services, as well as unsold florals from grocers and florists.
RAF made its first delivery in Indianapolis to Eskenazi Health hospital where 75 patients received bouquets.”
The Indianapolis Star followed Random Acts of Flowers Founder Larsen Jay as he, along with RAF Indianapolis staff and volunteers, made the inaugural deliveries at Eskenazi Health –
“Nothing brightens up a hospital room like a bouquet of flowers.
But not everyone consigned to a hospital stay receives a floral pick-me-up. A new local organization hopes to change that by recycling flowers that have already livened up weddings or other events and rearranging them for hospitals and senior facilities.
On Thursday, Random Acts of Flowers formally kicked off in Indianapolis, delivering 75 bouquets to patients on the maternity and medical/surgery units of Eskenazi Health.”
First Delivery Impacts Emotional Health and Wellbeing of 75 Individuals at Eskenazi Health
INDIANAPOLIS, IN (October 13, 2016) – A very vulnerable segment of the Indianapolis community — those struggling with injury, illness and the aging process — will receive much-needed hope and health benefits thanks to a national not-for-profit agency now serving Indianapolis.
“The mission of Random Acts of Flowers is simple, yet its impact is huge,” said Dr. Lisa Harris, CEO of Eskenazi Health, where 75 patients received the first delivery of repurposed floral bouquets this morning from the new Random Acts of Flowers Indianapolis branch. “At Eskenazi Health we’re focused on the total wellbeing of our patients and those who care for them. We’re grateful for the opportunity of this partnership with Random Acts of Flowers to benefit our patients and our medical staff as well as our community.”
Founded in 2008 in Knoxville, Tenn., Random Acts of Flowers (RAF) focuses on its mission to improve the emotional health and wellbeing of individuals in healthcare and assisted living facilities across the country by delivering recycled flowers, encouragement and personal moments of kindness. The new Indianapolis facility, located in the SoBro area, is the organization’s fifth branch, with RAF also serving Tampa Bay, Chicago and Silicon Valley in addition to Knoxville.
RAF Indianapolis expects to serve nearly 12,000 individuals in area healthcare and senior care facilities in its first year. In addition to Eskenazi Health, St. Vincent Health, IU Health and Community Health also have signed on as healthcare partners with RAF Indianapolis, along with Brookdale Senior Living, with more to be added in the coming weeks. Flowers for today’s first deliveries were repurposed from floral stock from RAF’s national partner FTD/ProFlowers. Ongoing, RAF Indianapolis also will create beautiful bouquets from flowers recycled from weddings, special events and memorial services and unsold florals from grocers, local florists including retailer McNamara Florists and wholesaler Kennicott Brothers, and the FTD/ProFlowers distribution center in Richmond. Vases for the deliveries also are donated from the community and repurposed by RAF Indianapolis.
“We take what would otherwise end up in a landfill and transform it into beautiful bouquets to provide an unexpected surprise and emotional lift to people in a time of need,” said Larsen Jay, who conceived the idea of Random Acts of Flowers while recuperating from a near-death accident. “This is something that is very personal to me, because I have experienced the healing benefits of flowers myself and have seen it a thousand times over in the faces of those who have received a bouquet from Random Acts of Flowers.”
Multiple studies indicate that the mere presence of flowers in a patient’s hospital room can, in the words of researchers from Rutgers University, become “a powerful positive emotion inducer” that improves mood and long-term episodic memory in elderly patients. A 2009 study from researchers at Kansas State University found that “patients in rooms with plants and flowers had significantly shorter hospitalizations, lower ratings of pain, anxiety and fatigue, and more positive feelings” when compared to patients in a control group. Most recently in a study conducted earlier this year at the University of Tennessee Medical Center, 95% of respondents reported that the unexpected delivery from Random Acts of Flowers improved their overall wellness, with 73.5% reporting “extreme improvement.” Further, the UTMC study reaffirmed that RAF is serving patients who typically are not getting this sort of encouragement, with more than 80% of respondents reporting they had not received other gifts of flowers outside of the RAF delivery, and 11% stating that the RAF volunteers were the only visitors they had during their hospital stay.
“I never dreamed this idea borne from my hospital room nine years ago would spread the way it has,” Jay said. “But thanks to the tremendous leadership of this community, we now are able to bring our mission to Indianapolis.”
Run largely by a dedicated corps of volunteers, Random Acts of Flowers has more than 2,000 volunteers nationwide who have served more than 155,000 people in hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living and hospices across the country. The agency also has recycled more than 180,000 vases, repurposed countless bows and card picks and composted tons of green waste.
The new RAF Indianapolis branch has a small staff of three and is actively recruiting volunteers to assist with floral pickups, floral preparation, arranging bouquets, driving, personal deliveries and miscellaneous assistance in the facility.
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For b-roll, mission photos, testimonials and other media materials, go to: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/m6twg7i73u8jl4f/AADNpFxckd_UJ8jqdC4luPfXa?dl=0
CONTACT: Cindy McConkey Cox – cindy@randomactsofflowers.org; 865-368-3976 Tom Surber – thomas.surber@eskenazihealth.edu 317-880-4793
To celebrate the launch of RAF Indianapolis, the morning news on WISH8 spoke with Founder Larsen Jay as he, the RAF Indianapolis staff, and RAF Volunteers prepared to make the first delivery of flowers to Eskanazi Health Center.
“We know weddings are all about you—it’s not called your day for nothing—but that doesn’t mean you can’t also use your celebration as a way to spread a little goodwill into the world. Is there a cause that’s close to your heart? Or an issue your fiancé is passionate about, which means, by extension, you are too?
In that spirit, [TheKnot.com] rounded up a handful of ways to make a real, actionable difference as you plan your wedding, and with very little effort on your part. And if that’s not a win-win for a busy, but conscientious bride, we don’t know what is.”
Read More… (see Random Acts of Flowers at #4)
The Knot and Keurig® teamed up to present Yours. Mine. Ours., a sponsored ad series full of inspiring ideas to help couples create a wedding (and registry!) that reflects them both.