We all know about Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday, but have you heard about Giving Tuesday? This year it’s Nov. 29.
With the holidays coming sooner rather than later, here’s a way to celebrate by giving to nonprofit organizations that support gardening, nature, historical landscapes and flowers:
Chris Lambton, host of HGTV’s “Growing Yard,” came to Evanston on Nov. 3 as, one might say, a working guest. Slated to be the keynote speaker at GROW, the fundraiser for Random Acts of Flowers (RAF) that evening, Mr. Lambton met with staff and residents of Dobson Plaza to create a concept design for an enabling garden.
A blue spruce tree, some yews, and a short lawn comprise the little green space at this health-care and rehabilitation residence at 120 Dodge Ave.
Within a few months, that space will be transformed: After listening to the residents, Mr. Lambton came up with plans to beautify the space with flowering shrubs and bulbs and engage the residents through an accessible path to an enabling garden of raised beds.
When celebrity landscaper Chris Lambton joined us for GROW – a series of events benefiting Random Acts of Flowers’ branches across the country – we knew that his presence would add some stardust to the occasion. What none of us realized, however, is what an impact Chris’s participation in the RAF mission – arranging bouquets and delivering them to hospitals and healthcare facilities coast-to-coast – would have on him. As he and his lovely wife Peyton eagerly await the arrival of their first child (due any day now), the experience gave Chris a chance to think about the impact flowers have had in his own life, as well as experience the joy of delivering hope and encouragement first-hand .
What motivated you to take to the road for two weeks for GROW at a time when you own family was about to grow significantly with the birth of your first child?
(Laughs sheepishly) Have you ever been around woman in her ninth month of pregnancy? The emotional swings were getting pretty unpredictable!
No, seriously, I have known and worked with Cindy McConkey Cox when she was Scripps Networks, the parent company of HGTV and DIY Network. She’s now the COO at Random Acts of Flowers, and once she shared with me the mission, I was in.
It resonated with me and my own experience as my mother battled MLS. My mom was a gardener and loved flowers. So when her health really started to decline and it was hard for her to putter in her garden any more, one of her friends brought her a bouquet every week, and I saw how much that meant to her. After Mom passed, her friend continued to bring a bouquet to my dad and my brothers and me for the next six months, and it was an important part of our healing process.
All that is to say I know the impact flowers can have on someone’s emotional health and well-being.
What did you do at each of the branch locations?
I was the guest speaker at the GROW fundraising events, but really they allowed me to be part of the mission. So of course I met donors and sponsors. But the fun part was going into their workshops and arranging flowers alongside their volunteers and even better was going on the deliveries. I delivered bouquets to hospital patients in Tampa Bay, people fighting Parkinson’s Disease in Knoxville, veterans in Silicon Valley and the elderly in a low-income senior care facility in Chicago.
Was there a favorite moment for you?
I really loved spending time with the volunteers. Random Acts of Flowers does its mission with thousands of volunteers who love what they do, working with the flowers and spreading hope and encouragement to those who are most vulnerable in their communities. But the deliveries. Wow! Every one of them was different. But the one thing that was the same – and the thing that I won’t forget – was how much it meant to each person I sat with and handed a bouquet to know that some stranger, someone they’ve never met, cared enough to bring a little joy into their day.
Editor’s Note: On November 22nd, Chris and his wife Peyton welcomed their daughter, Lyla, into the world. All of us at Random Acts of Flowers send our heartfelt congratulations!
Today, as the RAF branches across the country deliver patriotic bouquets, adorned with the American Flag, to VA homes across the nation, the quote above (by ancient Roman Senator Publius Cornelius Tacitus) rings especially true to all of us here.
We take great pride in our mission of delivering hope and encouragement to individuals in healthcare facilities throughout the country, every week of the year. But, today of all days is special. Today, we deliver flowers to brave men and women who – through their military service – brought hope to us as citizens of the USA. So, yes, today we deliver hope; but along with that hope, we deliver deep, abiding gratitude to the people we met.
Thank you to those we honor today for your service, for your patriotism, and for the hope that you’ve given us as a nation.
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“Your thoughtfulness reflects the concern that you feel for our Veterans and for the service they provided to all of us while in service to our country. Without your support, we could not provide for activities like this that make hospitalization more bearable. Your thoughtfulness also reflects the concern and compassion that our community feels for our Veterans.” – Nathan, Tampa Bay Healthcare Partner
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In Chicago, we partnered with Y.O.U. (Youth & Opportunity United) and AmeriCorps to deliver bouquets to more than 500 veteran patients; and, Dare2tri’s Melissa Stockwell joined Random Acts of Flowers Chicago for a Veterans Day delivery! Stockwell lost her leg in Iraq in 2004 after a roadside bomb went off. After a year at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, she went on to win several Paratriathlons and, on September 11, 2016, she won a Bronze Medal in the Rio Paralympic Games.
On her Facebook page, Stockwell shared this quotation in honor of Veterans Day –
“A Veteran is an ordinary and yet an extraordinary human being – a person who offered some of their life’s most vital years in the service of this country, and who sacrificed their ambitions so others would not have to sacrifice theirs. A soldier and a savior and a sword against the darkness, and nothing more than the finest, greatest testimony on behalf of the finest, greatest nation ever known. So remember, each time you see someone who has served our country, just lean over and say Thank You. That’s all most people need, and in most cases it will mean more than any medals they could have been awarded or were awarded.“
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“Your Random Acts of Kindness improve the quality of my life while staying here at the VA Rehab Center. Your thoughtfulness brightens my room and warms my heart.” – Kimberly, Recipient
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In Knoxville, the Veterans Day delivery to Ben Atchley State Veterans Home was facilitated by Dave Penson, a regular volunteer at the branch and a veteran himself. He served 22 years (was commissioned out of college in 1971) before retiring. Part of a robust military family (including his father, his wife (herself a retired colonel), and their children), Dave was pleased to deliver hope and encouragement to men and women who, like him, feel taller and prouder today.
Thank you to all of our Veterans Day sponsors across the country, including Advocate Condell Medical Center; Alternative Staffing, Inc.; Dover Foundation; FTD; Functional Pathways; MZI Group; and UL.
November 8, 2016 – Lavender, rosemary and raised planter boxes full of vegetables one could tend to from a wheelchair. Hydrangeas. Azaleas.
Those are just some of the elements that landscaper and television personality Chris Lambton, 39, had in mind last week for Dobson Plaza, a nursing home with 100 residents in Evanston.
Along with bringing colors, smells and honeybees to the nursing home’s side yard, “it’s healthy for the residents to be outside, to get their hands dirty and then eat what they grow,” Lambton said.
When Tampa Bay’s Jim Overton retired after more than 40 years as a painting contractor, his wife quickly noticed that boredom and lack of activity were affecting his mood. She, along with their friend and RAF Tampa Bay Board Member Pam Ora, suggested that Random Acts of Flowers might be a good way for him to stay active, make friends, and contribute to the community. Now, Jim volunteers at RAF Tampa Bay several times a week, delivering hope to people who need it most.
We sat down to talk with Jim about his experiences and why he
thinks more people should support Random Acts of Flowers.
How did you get started volunteering at RAF Tampa Bay?
I volunteered to drive the van for a delivery and was asked to come on in and deliver flowers. We went in and it was surprisingly rewarding to be able to deliver the flowers to people. I told them “We’re doing this to bring a smile to your face,” and I loved it.
I had become really depressed and was sitting around feeling sorry for myself. This is just fulfilling. Now I look forward to the next time I get to do it.
What is your favorite delivery story?
I’ve had several people – men and women – break down in tears, crying, “I’ve never had flowers delivered before. Ever.”
I had one lady who said, “I was going to have an order of edible arrangements delivered to me, just to have something delivered and here you are delivering flowers to me.” We just made her day.
I delivered one time on St. Patty’s Day and a lady said “I got flowers delivered by a leprechaun!” I have reddish hair and I look Irish, so she was laughing about that. It’s just a great feeling to bring a lot of smiles to so many people.
What is your favorite part of the spirit of the organization?
Mainly, it’s just surprising people and seeing the smiles and the joy that we can really bring to people. I love telling others about it and helping them understand that it’s such a good thing that we’re doing for the community, letting them know that’s it’s an organization that’s helping the whole community.
Why do you feel Random Acts of Flowers is a good fit for you?
I try to be upbeat, fun-loving, and wanting to do whatever I can to help whenever I can. I hate to say “no,” which is a really good thing, I think.
What do your family and friends think about you volunteering at RAF Tampa Bay?
They’re so proud of me and they say it’s such a wonderful thing that I’m doing. They can see that I get a lot of pleasure and enjoyment out of it. They can tell, when I’m talking about it, that I’m so positive about it. I love sharing the experience that I’ve had with making so many people happily surprised that they’re getting flowers for – it seems like – no reason at all. They just think it’s the greatest thing.
What would you say to someone who’s thinking about supporting Random Acts of Flowers, either by volunteering or donating?
I tell everybody I meet that volunteering at RAF is a great thing to do, and there are so many different ways that you can contribute.
What do you like to do when you’re not volunteering?
I love boating. I have a pontoon boat, and we’re constantly trying to find time to get out on that. I love relaxing and enjoying nature. I was talking to Chris Lambton (HGTV expert landscaper who visited Tampa Bay for GROW 2016), telling him how my yard was just like how he explained the landscaping trends with paths and fountains and a fishpond. I could really relate to him and what he does.
Did you enjoy GROW and meeting the celebrity speaker, Chris Lambton?
Oh, yeah, it was a blast! At the end of the night, he gave me a big bro hug! I enjoyed delivering flowers with him and Larsen (RAF founder and CEO) at the hospital, too.
Is there anything else you think our readers should know?
I would love to see more people have the opportunity to get involved and reap the rewards of volunteering.
I get a lot of pleasure out of it, and know other people would, too.
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