“It is with the heaviest of hearts that we share the news of the passing of Cindy McConkey Cox, our Chief Operating & Marketing Officer for Random Acts of Flowers. After a heroic four-year battle with cancer, Cindy died early this morning with her family by her side.

I cannot begin to express how devastated we are as a team. Cindy was a guiding light in our organization since her first day in April 2016. Within our organization she was known as a brilliant communicator, a strategic thinker, and someone who always put others above herself. Thoughtful, warm, and ‘one tough cookie’ is how her closest friends describe Cindy.

We extend our deepest sympathies to her husband Gary and their two children. A woman of deep faith, Cindy cherished her new role of ‘grandmother’ and anyone who spent much time with her was bound to see a picture of her dogs including her new black lab Sable.

Our love for Cindy is hard to put into words. Her loss is profound. We will miss her deeply but we are also grateful our team could share so many meaningful personal and professional milestones with this wonderful woman.”

– Larsen Jay / Founder & CEO, Random Acts of Flowers

National Development Director Puts Down Roots to Help Random Acts of Flowers Bloom

National Development Director Puts Down Roots
to Help Random Acts of Flowers Bloom

Random Acts of Flowers has added Sarah Elizabeth Hauge to its national team as National Director of Development. Hauge will be based at the Random Acts of Flowers national headquarters in Knoxville, TN, where she will focus on securing national partners for the nonprofit, but her work also will impact the five branches located in cities across the country.

Hauge is uniquely qualified for the position, having worked the past five years in financial management with RAF partner Pershing Yoakley & Associates, P.C. which focuses primarily on serving the healthcare industry. Prior to that, Hauge was responsible for corporate relations and development with the United States Chamber of Commerce in Washington D.C., where she developed and managed a yearly fundraising strategy to retain a portfolio of approximately 30 corporate accounts totaling $3 million in value. In this role, she served as the primary point of contact for current and prospective partners, negotiating existing and new corporate contacts.

At Random Acts of Flowers, Hauge will develop and implement the agency’s fundraising strategy and donor stewardship plan to take the organization to the next level. She will work directly with the RAF executive team and its national board of directors to manage a comprehensive fundraising program including annual giving, leadership gifts, corporate and foundation grants, third-party fundraising and planned giving. As the dedicated fundraising professional for Random Acts of Flowers, Hauge also will assist the Knoxville, Tampa Bay, Chicago, Indianapolis, and Silicon Valley branches in constructing development plans to be implemented on the local level.

Beyond her professional experience, Hauge was drawn to Random Acts of Flowers through a very personal connection to the floral industry. Her grandparents owned Hauge’s Flowers in Morgantown, West Virginia, where she spent many childhood summers learning about the floral industry. One of the most important things from her grandparents was, “Whether for a funeral, a wedding, or a simple arrangement a husband picked up to surprise his wife, flowers meant something special to a person or a family. I knew that I have impacted someone’s world for the better.”