Tag: recycled flowers
[imageframe lightbox=”no” gallery_id=”” lightbox_image=”” style_type=”none” hover_type=”none” bordercolor=”” bordersize=”0px” borderradius=”0″ stylecolor=”” align=”none” link=”” linktarget=”_self” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″ animation_offset=”” hide_on_mobile=”no” class=”” id=””] 
[/imageframe][fullwidth background_color=”” background_image=”” background_parallax=”none” enable_mobile=”no” parallax_speed=”0.3″ background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_webm=”” video_mp4=”” video_ogv=”” video_preview_image=”” overlay_color=”” overlay_opacity=”0.5″ video_mute=”yes” video_loop=”yes” fade=”no” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” padding_top=”20″ padding_bottom=”20″ padding_left=”” padding_right=”” hundred_percent=”no” equal_height_columns=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” menu_anchor=”” class=”” id=””][fusion_text]Many of us will celebrate the longest day of the year – the Summer Solstice on June 21st – by spending time outside with our friends and family, soaking up the sun, and reveling in the fact that we’ve made it another year around the sun while twilight slowly settles around us. But, for many, this longest day has an even greater meaning. The Alzheimer’s Association of America has adopted the summer solstice as their Longest Day and say “The Longest Day is all about love. Love for all those affected by Alzheimer’s disease.”
At Random Acts of Flowers, we’re honoring individuals battling Alzheimer’s, dementia, and other memory-related ailments by celebrating The Brightest Week on June 17-23. With financial support from Eli Lilly and Company, we will make 5,000 deliveries to memory care units at hospital and assisted living facilities in Indianapolis, Knoxville, Chicago, and Tampa Bay during this special week.
“Alzheimer’s has its grasp on more than 5 million people in the United States. But that isn’t just a statistic,” said Phyllis Ferrell, vice president, Lilly global Alzheimer’s disease platform. “It’s my dad. It’s my father-in-law. It’s mothers and fathers. Brothers and sisters. Friends and neighbors. And yes, because Alzheimer’s doesn’t discriminate based on age, it’s sometimes our sons and daughters.”
We encounter recipients facing Alzheimer’s disease at the hospitals and assisted living facilities that we visit on a regular basis. For them – and for us – a bouquet delivery is a welcome bright spot in a world that is turned upside down –[/fusion_text][two_fifth 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=””][separator style_type=”none” top_margin=”30″ bottom_margin=”” sep_color=”” border_size=”” icon=”” icon_circle=”” icon_circle_color=”” width=”” alignment=”center” class=”” id=””][imageframe lightbox=”no” gallery_id=”” lightbox_image=”” style_type=”none” hover_type=”none” bordercolor=”” bordersize=”0px” borderradius=”0″ stylecolor=”” align=”none” link=”” linktarget=”_self” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″ animation_offset=”” hide_on_mobile=”no” class=”” id=””] 
[/imageframe][/two_fifth][three_fifth last=”yes” 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]“My elderly father who suffers from Alzheimer’s was recently admitted to UT Medical Center. He was placed on the oncology wing for lack of space elsewhere. Cancer patients tend to receive lots of flowers and visitors. Once someone has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, a disease we can only hope to manage not cure, friends and even family begin to distance themselves. The sweetest lady came in carrying a bright yellow basket full of carnations, hydrangeas, daffodils and sunflowers. My dad was so excited.
He said, “Those flowers brighten up the whole room, don’t they?” It is amazing how something as small as a basket of flowers can mean so much. Many, many thanks.” – Joanie H.[/fusion_text][/three_fifth][fusion_text]
“I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the flower arrangements you brought. I am especially grateful for the flowers in our Memory Support rooms. My husband has been there since it opened in 2009, and flowers brightened his room until the last petal fell, brightening the days for him, me, and all the caretakers. What pleasure you have given to all of us, and I want you to know how much I appreciate the surprise.” – Marcia E.
And, research has shown that a familiar smell can bring back memories from the past. A study from Jeannette Haviland-Jones, Ph.D at Rutgers University “finds flowers decrease depression, encourage companionship and enrich short-term memories in seniors.”
Sunny Biden from The Pat Summitt Foundation (an organization in Knoxville, TN, fighting Alzheimer’s disease) says “with Alzheimer’s the first thing to go is, short-term memory, so bringing flowers to someone… there’s something nostalgic about a flower that reminds someone of a memory. So, if someone gets a certain flower that they loved, it might bring back a childhood memory that they’re more inclined to remember than a short-term memory.”
Flowers have the ability to brighten a person’s room and their spirits; and, through Eli Lilly and Co.’s generous support, Random Act of Flowers will be able to deliver hope, healing, and personal moments of kindness to 5,000 individuals during The Brightest Week.[/fusion_text][/fullwidth]
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Volunteers Marilyn and Jim Misner got involved about a year ago after hearing about our newest branch on the local news. The couple loves gardening and flowers and the added bonus of paying that love forward to people in local healthcare facilities really drew them to the mission! They love knowing their work touches lives in the community by raising patients’ spirits during a difficult time.
Just before the end of a long, frigid, lake-effect winter, Random Acts of Flowers Chicago had the opportunity to feel the warmth of summer through a very special partnership with the Joffrey Ballet. For opening night of the company’s season opener (and North American premiere) Midsummer Night’s Dream, Random Acts of Flowers took center stage for just a moment to share our mission with the performers and the audience.
RAF Chicago’s Executive Director Andrea Lutz reminisced about the experience. “Sitting in the audience, watching this Midsummer Night’s Dream, I was filled with happiness that we were partnering with such a touchstone of the Chicago community and their audience was connecting with us in a new way.”
Volunteers created beautiful, rustic bouquets for the dancers to congratulate them on a wonderful opening night and to share the power of flowers first-hand. One of the dancers even shared the gift with all of her followers on Instagram.
As part of the partnership, RAF Chicago was also featured in the program (see page 42) for Midsummer Night’s Dream, reaching the thousands of audience members who saw the production.
A volunteer who received tickets to attend the performance wrote to Andrea and Sydney. “My husband and I went to the Joffrey Ballet performance on Thursday night, and Midsummer Night’s Dream was fabulous…The ballet was visually surreal, inventive, and like nothing we’d ever seen. Humor, darkness, weirdness, and beauty from one moment to the next, a masterpiece. I can’t thank you enough for the tickets. We wouldn’t have had the experience otherwise!”
Partnerships like the one with the Joffrey Ballet are important to the Random Acts of Flowers mission because it aligns RAF and the mission of delivering hope to a beloved cultural institution’s mission; it puts Random Acts of Flowers front-and-center to a new audience of supporters through advertising space and social media; it gives us an opportunity to thank volunteers who do so much to keep the day-to-day mission running; and it showcases was RAF is about on a larger scale, positioning us a nonprofit to know in the communities we serve.
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Our Founder and CEO Larsen Jay recently spoke at TEDx UTK on The Healing Power of Flowers.
He shared his personal experience (which led to the founding of RAF) and testimonials from recipients that truly show the difference that flowers can make in the healing process.
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“The trick to keeping flowers fresh and beautiful is keeping them cool. Proper temperature control is even more important when flowers are recycled. And it can be a major challenge, particularly in the summer, where temperatures in Silicon Valley average in the 80s.
‘Our workshop isn’t well ventilated,’ Fairclough says. ‘There aren’t any windows. During the summer, our flowers were just dying by the day because of the excessive heat that was building up in the workshop.’
To beat the suffocating heat, Fairclough and her team built a mock cold room using an air conditioner and some plastic sheeting. It was better but still didn’t cut it. Thankfully, one of her volunteers happened to be a freelance florist who knew about the CoolBot. So, Fairclough picked up the phone and gave us a call” …
READ MORE…
“Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadows.
It’s what the sunflowers do.” – Helen Keller
Knoxville grower John Benzinger has been cultivating the local soil for more than fifty years. In that time, he ran a tobacco farm and a dairy farm followed by a sunflower nursery. He got into the flower business several years after selling the dairy farm in the mid-1980s. During the interim, John returned to the University of Tennessee to complete his college education. “I finished my degree at age 45. I started in 1957 and ended in 1984” Benzinger laughs as he recounts the dates. Then, he taught horticulture and agriculture at Lenoir City High School, and learned greenhouse gardening alongside his students.
Over time, the cut flowers that John grew found their way into farmers’ markets from here to Atlanta and then he sold sunflowers in Kroger grocery stores. Then, he saw RAF co-founder and CEO Larsen Jay on TV and thought “this is a way I can give flowers to people so they can enjoy them.”
The RAF Knoxville workshop enjoyed the sunny faces of John and his sunflowers all summer long. Bouquets featured the beautiful orange and yellow flowers, and brought sunshine to recipients in assisted living facilities and hospitals from Oak Ridge to Maryville.
And, a piece of John goes with each one of his flowers – the brightness of his smile, the earthiness of his laugh, and his commitment to the people in his community.
Once the Flowers Arrive, the Real Magic Begins
(The Flyer Group, 11.10.2017)
by Sara Nahrwold
In just one year, Random Acts of Flowers Indianapolis has delivered more than 17,000 flower arrangements to the area’s most vulnerable residents in hospitals, nursing homes and hospice facilities. The organization already has its eyes on year number two.
“It’s been great, overwhelming,” Lindsay Potter, program director for Random Acts of Flowers, said.
Since its inception, the business has stayed true to its mission — to improve the emotional health and well-being of individuals in health care facilities by delivering recycled flowers, encouragement and personal moments of kindness. Now, it’s looking to continue fulfilling that mission by adding another partner.
Potter recently met with Linda Ryser, patient liaison and manager of service excellence and volunteer services at Indiana University Health West Hospital in Avon. Ryser said the two talked about the mission, the history of the business and the organizational structure of the company.
“IU Health West enthusiastically agreed to partner with Random Acts of Flowers,” Ryser said. “Besides their mission of providing encouragement and kindness to patients, Random Acts of Flowers is also dedicated to recycling 100 percent of the arrangements they receive in order to keep these floral materials out of landfills. This is hugely important to the employees of IU Health West who have been participating in a recycling program at our hospital for several years.”
The Beginning
The Indianapolis chapter is part of the national organization of Random Acts of Flowers. The company’s founder and CEO, Larsen Jay, was in a near fatal accident in 2007. He was overwhelmed at the hospital with flowers from people showing their support and said that impacted his recovery.
“He saw people come and go that didn’t have visitors,” Potter said. When he got better, he repurposed his flowers and set out to deliver the first “random act of flowers.”
The company then formed in 2008 in Knoxville, Tenn., and has added locations in Chicago, Silicon Valley, Tampa Bay and Indianapolis.
How it Works
Random Acts of Flowers operates within a 30-minute radius from Indianapolis. The company has delivered to locations in Plainfield and Brownsburg.
Donated flowers are brought to the organization’s shop, whether that’s by individuals or companies. Random Acts of Flowers receives flowers from funerals, weddings, wholesalers (flowers that didn’t sell) and grocery stores (because of sell-by dates).
“We aren’t competing with the floral industry, we depend on the floral industry,” Potter said.
For example, someone can’t call Random Acts of Flowers and send $30 to have flowers delivered to grandma at the hospital. That still falls under the floral industry.
Once the flowers arrive, the real magic begins.
“We have a team that takes everything apart and sorts through what we can/can’t use,” Potter said. “We compost what we can’t use.”
Once the flowers are sorted and deemed good enough to reuse, arranging begins. The volunteers usually have a goal to make about 200 flower arrangements a day.
Afterwards, the flowers are delivered with the help of staff at hospitals and nursing homes and Random Acts of Flowers volunteers.
The organization works closely with hospitals and other medical facilities to figure out who to give the flowers to. Some base it on who needs it the most, who hasn’t gotten flowers/visitors or if someone receives life-changing news. Other hospitals have a policy if one person on the floor gets an arrangement, then everyone does.
“We believe in the power of flowers to enhance moods,” Potter said. “It’s really about that connection.”
Moving Forward
Looking ahead, Random Acts of Flowers Indianapolis hopes to deliver around 25,000 arrangements next year.
“We are trying to create new partnerships with hospitals,” Potter said. “We constantly want to find new places and new flowers to rescue.”
Random Acts of Flowers is finalizing the preparatory work with the hospital in hopes that the bouquets will be delivered to patients within the next few months.
Overall, the success has been overwhelming. “Indianapolis has been great for [Random Acts of Flowers],” Potter said. “There’s a wonderful floral community here.”
One of the big areas the organization needs help with is vases, which can also be donated at the office. They go through about 300 a week.
“When you see an organization such as Random Acts of Flowers reaching out and sharing joy in this way, it not only lifts the spirits of the patients, but also their families and friends, the caregivers who treat the patients, and the community as a whole,” Ryser said.
Indianapolis Colts’ Jabaal Sheard Delivers Flowers
To Breast Cancer Patients
(Colts.com, 10.25.17)
Tuesday was a day off for Colts linebacker Jabaal Sheard – his only day off of the week. He could have spent it any way he wanted to. But what he wanted to do was spread happiness.
“I know it’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month and I thought, ‘What can I do to bring someone a smile?’ And I thought of flowers.”
He teamed up with Random Acts of Flowers and walked the halls of IU Health’s Simon Cancer Center delivering flowers to breast cancer patients.
“Hey, beautiful. I’ve got some flowers for you,” he said as he strolled into Heidi Reimer’s examination room. “It’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I just wanted to come out and put a smile on your face.”
READ THE FULL STORY HERE
by Heather Lloyd
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