Flowers from the Heart brings blooms and a little bit of love to lucky islanders

Published 11:17 am Monday, July 18, 2016

Every weekday this summer, vases overflowing with flowers are loaded into the trunks of cars in a church parking lot, heading off to be gifted to teary-eyed islanders.

It’s a colorful scene that’s played out every summer since 1997. Volunteers for Island Volunteer Caregivers collect flowers, arrange them into bouquets, and then deliver them to recipients who could use some cheer.

IVC serves islanders by providing non-medical services and transportation to seniors, people with chronic illnesses or disabilities, people in recovery and residents in retirement or nursing homes.

The Flowers from the Heart program allows volunteers to choose the recipients of their arrangements from a list of care receivers generated by IVC. But they often gather the names of others who might appreciate a bouquet. The list is prioritized by recent hospitalizations and birthdays.

“We receive flowers from everybody in the community, anybody who has extra flowers,” said program coordinator Shannon Lea. “So the program is flowers from the community to the community. It’s kind of strangers helping strangers.”

Bainbridge Islanders drop off flowers from their home gardens into the buckets on the steps of Eagle Harbor Congregational Church. Flowers can be donated from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. Monday through Friday.

“Some volunteers like to do really plush bouquets with a lot of flowers in it, and others do real artistic,” Lea said. “Each bouquet is different, and that’s kind of the beautiful thing about it. It’s an expression from the volunteer.”

About half of the volunteers for Flowers from the Heart also volunteer for IVC in other capacities. There are around 40 volunteers this summer who organized themselves into groups of one to four; each group takes a week.

The groupings are often made up of family members or best friends. Three generations of women — Pat Reynolds, Rose Michaels and Caroline Michaels — were able to spend time together while showing kindness to members of their community. Sometimes strangers volunteer together and bond throughout the week.

Currently, the program receives enough flowers to make around 10 bouquets per day. But, during a previous week, they were able to make 25 almost every day. The donated flowers have included bulbs, lilies, chrysanthemums and dahlias, varying as the summer progresses.

“Sometimes I try to sit there and see who are these little angels just coming by, delivering their beautiful flowers that they’ve grown that they want to give to somebody,” said Lea, who believes the donors are the secret to the success of the program. “And they’re just anonymous and quiet, you know. But we do have some big donors from larger gardens.”

Vases, another big aspect of the donations, are collected by IVC through social media, from nursing homes and the Rotary auction.

“Rotary helps so many people, so many nonprofits. They gave us just boxes of them, and then after the auction I got to pick up some more,” Lea said.

Flowers from the Heart runs from June 1 to Sept. 2. Last summer they delivered a total of 317 bouquets. This year they managed to pass the 300 mark on July 11.

As one might imagine, the flower deliverers have many stories of recipients’ reactions. Lea reflected on some of her memorable experiences: keeping a lonely senior company after a delivery and a recipient crying from joy after realizing she had received flowers from her community.

“It was just — you can’t be in a bad mood after you do that. It makes a big difference,” Lea said.

A handwritten note to the recipient is written and attached by the volunteers. Printed on the back of the note is: “From our community’s open hearts and beautiful gardens to you.”

“There’s not a lot of micromanaging,” Lea said. “It’s really an independent, personal kind of thing. And I think that’s why so much love comes through in those bouquets.

“It’s simple. It’s simple and free and lovely.”