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Meet Random Acts of Flowers Queen of Green, Sarah Cronan

Post author By rafindianapolis
Post date July 26, 2017
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Meet RAF’s Queen of Green, Sarah Cronan

This week, Random Acts of Flowers’ National Director of Finance and Administration Sarah Cronan, is more than 1,000 miles away from our National Headquarters, attending the 2017 Perennial Plant Association Symposium in Denver, Colorado. Because – while Sarah is the Queen of fiscal Green for our organization – her other passion is gardening, which makes her and RAF a perfect match!

Sarah’s interest in gardening stems from her childhood visiting her grandparents who lived on farms, growing their own vegetables and flowers. She loved to visit them, picking flowers and enjoying the fresh veggies. This interest became a passion as she got older, and is now a defining part of her life. Having spent her pre-RAF career in a series of intense – and sometimes stressful jobs – Sarah finds her garden a therapeutic and comforting place.

“Whenever I travel, wherever I go, I love to seek out people with an interest in plants and check out nurseries. I’m always on the lookout for unusual things that I can’t get in my local garden center.
I love plants!”

Sarah returned to the working world at the beginning of 2017 after having spent several years with her garden as her full-time job. When RAF COO/CMO Cindy McConkey Cox (with whom Sarah worked at Scripps Networks Interactive) reached out to her about joining the RAF team, Sarah was “ready to get back to business. And, I wanted something tied to the horticulture industry in some way, so Random Acts of Flowers was absolutely perfect.”

“I love flowers. I love growing flowers, but I also love cutting flowers. I cut flowers from my own yard to enjoy in my house. And, the mission of RAF is incredible, and – as someone who is so involved with plants – I fully understand the positive impact that being around flowers and plants can have on someone’s life.”

From managing the fiscal green at the RAF office to cultivating the floral green at her home garden, Sarah wears her Queen of Green crown beautifully![/fusion_text][imageframe lightbox=”no” gallery_id=”” lightbox_image=”” style_type=”none” hover_type=”none” bordercolor=”” bordersize=”0px” borderradius=”0″ stylecolor=”” align=”center” link=”” linktarget=”_self” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″ animation_offset=”” hide_on_mobile=”no” class=”” id=””] [/imageframe][separator style_type=”none” top_margin=”40″ bottom_margin=”” sep_color=”” border_size=”” icon=”” icon_circle=”” icon_circle_color=”” width=”” alignment=”center” class=”” id=””][one_sixth last=”no” spacing=”yes” center_content=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” hover_type=”none” link=”” border_position=”all” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”” padding=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”” animation_speed=”0.1″ animation_offset=”” class=”” id=””][/one_sixth][two_third last=”no” spacing=”yes” center_content=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” hover_type=”none” link=”” border_position=”all” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”” padding=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”” animation_speed=”0.1″ animation_offset=”” class=”” id=””][fusion_text]

After Sarah’s garden appeared in an article in the Knoxville News-Sentinel, a local garden club reached out to see if the club could pay a visit. So earlier this year, the club visited Sarah’s home to see the wide variety of plants she cultivates on about two acres of land in West Knoxville.

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Tags conference, Flowers, gardening, green, Knoxville, mission, National Senior Citizens Day, random acts of flowers, random acts of kindness, recycled flowers, repurposed flowers, Staff

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Meet RAF’s New(ish) Communications Chameleon, Christina Scott Sayer

Post author By rafindianapolis
Post date January 6, 2017
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Meet RAF’s New(ish) Communications Chameleon, Christina Scott Sayer

I discovered Random Acts of Flowers about a year ago as I was searching for employment at nonprofit organizations in Knoxville, TN (where I knew I would be moving in the late spring). I had never heard of RAF before, but I was immediately enamored of the simplicity and straightforwardness of the mission. The concept of a pipeline taking what is often incorrectly viewed as worthless waste and transforming it into a beacon of hope and encouragement touched me deeply.

I was so inspired by the mission that, though there wasn’t a position available at the time, I reached out to the HR Manager in the National Office in Knoxville, expressing my interest and promising that – if nothing else – I would love to be a volunteer in the local branch once I had settled into my new city.

So, when I found out that Random Acts of Flowers was in search of a Communications Chameleon (as CMO/COO Cindy McConkey Cox styles my position), I jumped at the opportunity to apply. Just as Cindy calls herself an accidental COO, I consider myself an accidental graphic designer and marketing manager, a chameleon who approaches each project with a fresh eye and a spirit of adaptability.

I come from a theatre background (Shakespeare, specifically) and have worked professionally as an actor and a playwright for nearly a decade. In the course of my theatre work, I found myself suddenly cast into graphic design and marketing roles. This hands-on, by-the-bootstraps approach to learning the trade has allowed me to hone my skills and mindset for the nonprofit world.

And, while the skills are important, the mindset of humility and service that threads through nonprofit work is the center of my professional ethos. That’s what excites me most about being at Random Acts of Flowers. Everyone from CEO and Founder Larsen Jay to the every-once-in-awhile volunteer factors the mission and its goals into every idea, every project, and every day.

We’re not here for ourselves; we’re not here for money or influence or attention; we’re not really here for the flowers. We’re here for the joy we see on the faces of those surprised by the gift of a bouquet. We’re here for the knowledge that a little love goes a long way. We’re here to deliver hope and encouragement, and – if you want to call it just a little selfish – we’re here for the satisfaction that serving a smile gives back to us.

The short version of this story is this – Now three months on the job, I am so happy to be here at Random Acts of Flowers. The mission and the culture of the organization fits with my philosophies seamlessly, and I am thrilled to be able to contribute my particularly flexible brand of marketing and communications manager-ness to this amazing cause.

So, if you have an occasion to send me something to proofread, you can go ahead and address it to your collateral designing, copy-editing comma chameleon.