In February, the Power of Flowers Project is celebrating its 5 YEAR Anniversary.
Joyce B. founded POF in 2009 in the basement of her home with the help of a few volunteers. But it wasn’t until 2013 when the By-Laws were adopted and the subsequent attainment of the 501 (c) 3 status that the Power of Flowers Project became a bona fide non-profit organization.
We’ve blossomed from a home-grown operation with just a few folks to a regional non-profit with a sizable impact. It’s been an amazing journey and so much has been accomplished in five short years:
Since its inception, Power of Flowers Volunteers created and delivered over 73,000* bouquets to people in need of a smile: at nursing homes, retirement communities, Meals on Wheels programs, VA hospitals, shelters? anywhere in the community where smiles are few and far between.
*To illustrate this number, picture the U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis during the Super Bowl. Picture each fan in the seats holding a POF signature bouquet and that’s slightly less than the number of bouquets we’ve delivered since 2009.
Approximately 12 stems are typically used in a signature bouquet, which makes the total number of flowers that POF has rescued, reused, and redistributed close to 1,000,000.
Signature bouquets have a “Halo” effect? they not only bring smiles to the recipients, but also to people visiting the recipients, staff members of the facility, and of course, the volunteers who made and those who deliver the bouquets. Flower donors can smile, too, knowing their beautiful blooms were not wasted.
In addition to signature bouquets, POF spreads joy through the Flower Therapy Workshop Program. POF Volunteers bring all supplies and flowers on the road. They teach and assist participants in making their own bouquets at the participant’s facility. Of course, participants keep the bouquets they made. In 2017 alone, we held over 65 Flower Therapy Workshops at Nursing Homes, Senior Centers, and Assisted Living Venues. AND we have more planned for the future.
An outcropping of the Flower Therapy Workshop is the Kindness Connection Program where POF Volunteers bring supplies and flowers to a business to help provide team-building and community service experiences for their employees. Company employees create bouquets with the help of POF Volunteers. Employees who participate in the program then deliver the bouquets with their company’s logo to the facility of their choice.
A similar program, After Hours Flower Workshops, is a fund-raising program that enables small groups to come to the workshop and make bouquets with POF volunteers assisting. For a small donation, participants can learn how to make our signature bouquets, produce bouquets for delivery to one of our senior facilities, as well as make an arrangement to take home to enjoy or to give as a gift.
During the past 5 years, our roster of volunteers has grown from a handful to over 133… and that number is growing all the time. Our volunteers come from all walks of life, from near and far, and each and every one brings a wealth of knowledge, expertise, and energy. We are so very grateful to all our hard-working volunteers with their can-do attitudes. We have also been pleasantly surprised to find that many of our volunteers help out in other areas of the community, as far-reaching areas as zoos, farms, museums, animal shelters, garden clubs, hospitals, churches. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, Volunteers are Our Most Valuable Resource. In 2017, 133 volunteers gave 9,439 hours of their time making and delivering 18,184 bouquets,
Over the years, we have become very Green. We not only recycle flowers, but last year alone we recycled and resold about 3,000 floral containers back into the floral industry.
We’ve recently installed a composter in the Workshop and are now composting our floral waste. Not only are we re-purposing flowers and greens, bringing smiles to so many, but we are also using those discarded stems and any unusable floral items to create compost to enrich the circle of life…something else to smile about!!
Part of POF’s growth and success are due to YOU, our loyal and generous followers, donors, sponsors, and supporters. Last year alone 88 Flower Donors through their generosity provided smiles to 130 care communities in over 30 cities and towns
Your response to our fundraisers over the years has been very heartwarming. Just in 2017 alone, events such as the Plant Sale, Spread the Joy Luncheon, Trinkets to Treasures, and Beadle Workshop has been overwhelming and has raised funds necessary to continue this important work and to carry us forward to the next five years.
So, to celebrate our accomplishments over the last five years, we wanted to toot our own horn, and we realize that we couldn’t have done it without YOU and your generosity
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