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This team of rockstar volunteers created more than 200 arrangements to be delivered to patients at Eskenazi Health —one of which was the 50,000th delivery since our launch in Indy!
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Random Acts of Flowers volunteers deliver their 50,000th bouquet of flowers to Ana Ramos, right, and her new daughter, Keilani Pena Ramos, at Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital, Thursday, Nov. 29, 2018. The newest branch of the national floral nonprofit has been delivering the flowers to patients to offer hope, encouragement and smiles, for about two years. Kelly Wilkinson/IndyStar
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Claire Alexander, from left, Joan Perry, and Kathy Bradfield, with Random Acts of Flowers, get ready to deliver their 50,000th bouquet of flowers at Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital, Thursday, Nov. 29, 2018. The newest branch of the national floral nonprofit has been delivering the flowers to patients to offer hope, encouragement and smiles, for about two years. Kelly Wilkinson/IndyStar
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A little more than two years ago, the Random Acts of Flowers (RAF) Indianapolis workshop in Broad Ripple was abuzz with activity. The newest branch of the national floral nonprofit was preparing to make its first deliveries. And, in mid-October 2016, the mission of delivering hope got its start in Indy with 75 deliveries to the Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital.
That day, RAF Indianapolis expected to reach 12,000 people during its first year in operation, but – through the hard work of staff and the dedication of volunteers (who have contributed more than 16,000 hours) – the branch has far exceeded its goals.
On November 29th, RAF Indianapolis will return to the Eskenazi Health campus to celebrate its 50,000th delivery of hope and encouragement in our community.
Natalie George, an Outreach Patient Assistant at Eskenazi Health, says she always looks forward to RAF delivery days.
“[They] are my favorite day of the month! RAF brings joy to every person at Eskenazi Health. Not only do our patients benefit from this wonderful organization, but our staff is also uplifted by seeing and smelling the beautiful floral arrangements. The volunteers are genuinely excited to deliver flowers and speak to our patients. We are so fortunate to have Random Acts of Flowers in Indianapolis!”
And, floral delivery recipients in Indy have also reached out many times in the last two years to RAF and know the difference the flowers made to them.
“What a beautiful floral arrangement you made that was delivered to my room following surgery. I cannot tell you how much the flowers brightened my days in the hospital. Do not doubt for a moment what your gift, talent, and time means to someone like me.” – Gary K.
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Every vase has a story. Perhaps, it starts at a florist shop or a gift store or even some warehouse online; but, ideally, that vase finds itself full of flowers and in the home of a grateful recipient. But, after the bouquet’s life ends, what happens to the vase that held them? Maybe it gets stashed under the kitchen sink or in the garage or forgotten in that weird cabinet space above the refrigerator.
At RAF Knoxville, we receive more than 2,000 vases a month from individuals who know that those objects’ stories aren’t finished yet, that they have more to give.
The majority of the vases we receive are re-purposed as part of our mission of delivering hope – refilled with flowers and taken to hospitals and assisted living facilities throughout East Tennessee.
However, some can’t be used for this purpose (usually due to height) and so their journey takes them just a little bit further – to the Knox Area Rescue Ministries (KARM) stores.
KARM’s Evan Crass describes the symbiosis between our two organizations as unique because “RAF turns something that would otherwise be garbage in a landfill into a gift, and – if they can’t use something they receive, they pay it forward to another organization. For us, it’s vases, and – at our stores – those vases get sold to support our mission of providing meals.”
At KARM stores, every $2 spent becomes a meal for an individual facing housing and food scarcity issues in our community. Each month, RAF donates approximately 300 vases to KARM stores, which become dozens of meals for the people that they serve.
And, who knows, one of those vases may start its story all over again once it leave KARM. It could be given – full of flowers – to someone who will donate it back to RAF, and we will donate it to KARM and back again – providing joy, hope, and sustenance to our friends and neighbors.
If you are interested in donating vases at any of our branches, please visit https://randomactsofflowers.org/donate-vases.
A decade ago, Random Acts of Flowers (RAF) made its first official delivery. With a strong vision and a simple mission, co-founders Larsen and Adrian Jay started what has become a nationwide phenomenon. Over the past ten years, Random Acts of Flowers has delivered more than 340,000 bouquets of recycled flowers to individuals in hospitals, assisted living facilities, and hospice, and the organization has repurposed more than 356,000 vases, all thanks to the more than 161,000 hours put in by dedicated volunteers. Currently, the RAF mission serves four communities in the US – Knoxville, Tampa Bay, Chicago, and Indianapolis – and has inspired more than two dozen smaller organizations in communities from coast to coast, as well as in the UK.
Everyone who has been a part of Random Acts of Flowers’ journey so far has done just that. So, thank you! Because every minute you spend volunteering, every dollar you donate, every person to whom you spread the word of delivering hope – you make kindness a verb. Through your dedication and help, we’ve turned potential kindness into kinetic kindness, and we are building momentum to do so much more in the years to come.
Sheryl Proctor-Bloom started volunteering in September of 2017, not too long after she retired. She had seen a newspaper article about the branch’s launch and know “this was the spot for me!”
traveled to RAF’s National HQ in Knoxville, TN, at the end of July for a few days of leadership training and a celebration honoring the organization’s 10th birthday!
And, she is one of the dedicated volunteers right here at RAF Indianapolis. She got involved shortly after our branch opened its doors. After hearing about the mission from a Horticultural Society colleague (oh yeah, she’s involved there, too!), she was “so excited about it that I called to sign up the next week.”
