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Nonprofit distributes 600 bouquets made up of leftover Valentine's Day flowers


Bouquets made of unused Valentine's Day flowers created by the non-profit What Cheer Flower Farm. (WJAR)
Bouquets made of unused Valentine's Day flowers created by the non-profit What Cheer Flower Farm. (WJAR)
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A nonprofit is using unsold, donated Valentine's Day flowers to help brighten the day of dozens struggling all across Rhode Island.

On Wednesday, one day after Valentine's Day, a holiday that's arguably the biggest flower-selling day of the year, employees of What Cheer Flower Farm and volunteers spent their afternoon conducting a "bouqouet-a-thon."

The non-profit flower farm not only has their own 1-acre property on Magnolia Street in Providence where they farm their own flowers, but year-round it also rescues unsold, unwanted flowers from local florists.

Employees said they typically give away about 100,000 donated flowers per year.

“I want to say we worked with about ten floral partners whether that’s a retailer or a florist," said Erin Achenbach, a farmer florist. "We lean heavily on people who love flowers as much as we do."

"Today, we invited our nonprofit partners. The people we usually give bouquets to, they came in to make the bouquets so we could give them to people in hospitals, and care facilities across the state," she added.

Dozens of volunteers gathered at the bouquet-making spot on Broadway.

Roughly 7,000 stems were donated after Valentine's Day, and volunteers were able to make about 600 bouquets with them.

Flowers were delivered Wednesday to the Providence VA Medical Center, AIDS Care Ocean State, the Elizabeth Buffum Chace Center, the Rhode Island Veterans Home in Bristol, Newport Hospital, and the Coventry Resource and Senior Center.

“These flowers touched even more people today because it’s not just the person who gets the flowers, it’s the person who makes the bouquet, it’s the person who’s delivers it, the person who receives them," Achenbach said.

Kellie-Lyn Bianco said she typically is on the receiving end of the flowers.

She lives at a recovery center with her son.

“Every Friday, when they bring the flowers, the donated flowers, I put them together and everyone tells me I’m so good at it," said Bianco. “I love matching different colors. It’s very soothing. It takes away all my bad thoughts and just puts me in a better mood."

Since Bianco enjoys the flowers so much, she volunteered her time to make the bouquets.

“It just makes me happy when I can put a smile on somebody’s face," said Bianco.

Beth Concauh was also in attendance.

She learned about the effort through a local newspaper article.

She has been volunteering every Friday since August.

"Everyone needs a smile these days. Who doesn’t smile when you get flowers?" said Concauh. “Certainly on a day like today, the day after Valentine's Day, the biggest flower day of the year, florists, instead of their flowers just getting thrown in a trash pile they’re able to donate what they have left over, and it gets turned into another beautiful bouquet for somebody."

The effort doesn't happen only after holidays, but year-round.

“We asked for really tough flowers, ones that will last a little longer," said Achenbach. “Being second hand, we expect five to seven days at the very least, and some of these will hang out for a couple weeks, even. Once we make bouquets, they're distributed all over the state of Rhode Island to brighten the day of people who may need it."

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