OUR FABULOUS FOUR AND A HALF

Yes, we had four and a half volunteers today.  The half being Avery, five years old.  However,  if you walked into the residents’ room with Avery, he definitely stole the show - so his impact was definitely greater than one half.  Here he is with Marjorie, a resident who also helped us make the arrangements.

This was our first experience with Hands-On Asheville and we loved the volunteers they found for us! Very easy going, talented with flowers and ready to engage with whoever they met. Above on the left is Melody and Niki.  Group photo is Sarah, Melody, Niki and Ali.  Above on the right is Sarah, working with a smile on her face - don’t you love that?  And below on the left is Ali, having a brief conversation with one of our gorgeous spider mums from Fresh Market.

We got our volunteers right to work filling the table with flowers, the cup with waters and handing shears to everyone.  Before long the cart was filled with beautiful arrangements ready to take to the residents for a Valentine’s Day treat. Of course, Second Bloom doesn’t need a special occasion to give out flowers.  We do it any day of the week, at a moment’s notice. Look at some more great photos from our day at the Laurels.

It took us till the very end of our morning to figure out exactly what to do with those banana leaves - fortunately Niki saw what they were supposed to be!

FAMILIAR FACES BLOOMING

Joan, Alan and Emily all live in Black Mountain and joined us today at The McCune Center.  The smiles on their faces and their good hearted natures go a long way towards brightening up the lives of the residents.  The flowers didn’t hurt any in this regard either.  Quite a crowd gathered today to make bouquets for the residents, staff and dining room tables.  And one large bouquet for their Valentine’s Dance this afternoon, complete with a bit of karaoke!  But Second Bloom was gone long before that began.

Joan was one of our very first volunteers who helped us ’stream-line’ our process….so we no longer wear out our volunteers like we wore her out the first time.  And Alan’s back from the Key West Literary Seminar that he helps organize.  And Emily, who has become a delightful regular with Second Bloom, is here with her great smiling face!  Check out the fun they brought to everyone at McCune.

FIND OUR VOLUNTEER

She’s holding up a bucket of roses.  Jackie spent a good part of her day driving around getting flowers for Valentine’s Day!  She went to Fresh Market, Earth Fare and Black Mountain Floral Center.  And look at her reward!   We couldn’t even get all the flowers in the photo.

But here’s a great story she heard from Vicki at Fresh Market in Asheville.  As Vicki was wheeling flowers to the back of the store, a customer asked her if she was giving those to Second Bloom.  She went on to say that her father’s in a nursing home and Second Bloom brings him flowers every week.  He said to her, “I don’t know what I did to deserve these roses, but they keep bringing them.’  And he loves it!   Got a story like that for us?   We’d love to hear it.

OUR BLOOMING VOLUNTEERS

Sally, Melinda and Emily:  our blooming volunteers at Courtyard Rehabilitation and Nursing Center today.  Second Bloom is so fortunate to have such great individuals that come to volunteer their time, their expertise and their heart.  They truly make a difference in the lives of these residents.  The genuine contact when they give them the flowers, the attention they give to those who help us make the arrangements, the smiles and warmth that shine out from each of them is a delight.  See whose lives they made a difference in today.

Sally, who has volunteered a few times with us, is going to be taking a course at the Arboretum.  It’s about how to arrange ‘grocery store’ flowers.  This is right up our alley!  We don’t really know how, but we’re ready to have the Reader’s Digest version when Sally returns.  Our volunteers are our greatest source of floral knowledge.  What fun!

FRIDAY’S FANTASTIC FOUR

We had four fantastic volunteers today! Jackie was at The McCune Center where she got to meet the ladies and Sam, who can put more flowers in a cup than seems humanly possible.  They also like a lot of height with their arrangements so we’re always having to tell them to keep them short - we’ve spilled many a cup trying to take them to the residents’ rooms. Great photo of Jackie with Louise and one of her spectacular bouquets.

Lizzee, Fred and Emily joined in at Highland Farms, where flowers were flying from cup to cup.  Fred’s here with Elizabeth.  Emily’s trying to keep the flowers coming and Lizzee’s got her hands full.  Notice how happy everyone looks?  What’s with that?  Well, ask anyone, volunteering at Second Bloom is just plain fun!

MILES OF SMILES

Today was a whirlwind of activity at Courtyard! With flowers from Fresh Market and Earth Fare, our volunteers and several residents made 115 small bouquets!  We filled two carts full of flowers.  On the left is a photo of Rebecca, Emily and Sally as we’re getting ready to wheel the cart down the halls.  And below on the right are our trusty volunteers with Ramona.  This was Ramona’s first time working with the flowers.

As always, Second Bloom was quite popular with the residents.  Here’s a photo of Rebecca with Helen.  Helen loves to read, doesn’t mind books with a bit of mystery and murder, as long as they’re entertaining.  Nora Roberts is a current favorite of hers.  I love bringing flowers to Helen because she’s got a great smile and always lights up when she sees the flowers.  She loves having them in her room.  Rebecca volunteered with us for the first time today.  She owns Lola Salon and Gallery in downtown Asheville.  I think of her as ‘hairdresser to the stars’.  Wander in if you’re downtown - her shop has a great feel, relaxed, open, good art, friendly folks…….

THREE IS NOT A CROWD

Many hands really do make light work.  We usually just have one or two volunteers but we’re liking three.  Much more leisurely, no feeling of being rushed.  Plenty of time to talk to staff and residents in the halls.

Today it was Judy, Fred and Emily who helped us at Highland Farms.  We had some great flowers from Fresh Market and you can see how everyone was enjoying them!  Confidence was in the air as our trusted volunteers creatively chose the flowers, snipped and delicately arranged them in a most attractive Second Bloom cup.  That would be a cup with our logo on it.  Our cart filled in no time with beautiful little arrangements poised for their precarious journey down the halls.  To find out more about how that journey progressed, you’d best click here.

TALENT ABOUNDS AT SECOND BLOOM

Our two volunteers today have a fair amount of experience with flowers.  Sally, on the left, helped out at Blossoms at Biltmore Park to see what all she could learn.  And she is growing so many flowers in her garden now that she may begin selling some.  Then Lizzee, in the photo to the right, is a semi-retired florist that has recently moved to Asheville.  Together they were quite a team for us.  We finished making 100 bouquets for all the residents at the Laurels of GreenTree Ridge in record time.

The task of making all these bouquest can seem a bit daunting at first…..buckets of flowers, empty cups, how to begin?  But it doesn’t take long to get going and get some sort of rhythm with it.  Before too long, we had everything on our cart and the place all cleaned up.  Another bloomin’ day!

MELTING VOLUNTEERS

It was January.  Last week at this time it was in the single digits.  But not today.  Outside it was balmy, inside we roasted.  Judy found a bit of shade at one end of the tables we set up, but Jackie stayed in the sun.  Not even a complaint.  The rest of the folks at McCune thought it was simpler to stay put with the strong beams coming through the window than it would be to move.  They had a point.  So we stayed put, working on our tans.  Both Jackie and Judy love working with the flowers, no matter what kind.  Judy had brought a bucket full of greens of various kinds that she’d cut from her yard.  Beautiful holly with berries and pine boughs.  They definitely added some interest to the bouquets.  We started the day not expecting to have enough flowers to go two places, but as soon as we realized we could we gave Judy a call.  Then Jackie called to see if we were ‘blooming’ anywhere in the afternoon, so she joined right in.  It was great to have their help.

FRED’S GOT VERVE

Not nerve, verve!  Enthusiastic, has a zest for life, energetic…..qualities like that.  Fred, a regular volunteer with Second Bloom, was definitely a help today as we were immersed in being interviewed and photographed for Verve Magazine.  He spent a fair amount of time filling cups with water as Helen, Rose and Elizabeth busied themselves with making arrangements for all the other residents.  And then we delivered them to all 80 rooms, only spilling a few on the cart, a new record for Second Bloom.

FULL OF LIFE

This is Loretta Heiser, who is one hot ticket!  Here is a woman that has a dynamic magnetism about her.  We’re convinced it’s because she genuinely likes people and wants to see them happy and successful.  So, of course,  everyone wants to be around her.  Perfect for us here at Second Bloom.  Loretta is determined to find flowers for Deerfield’s skilled nursing facility as well as for her BLT Girls.  (What does BLT stand for?  We can never remember…..beautiful toned ladies?)  We’ll be teaming up with Loretta and her gang soon to bring flowers to the residents at Deerfield.  This week Loretta was out finding flowers for Second Bloom.  She managed an introduction for us at Clements Flower Shop and Greenhouses and secured 3 buckets of beautiful flowers for us to take over to Highland Farms.  We made great use of them.  We have a feeling that Loretta is going to be spreading the word to everyone she meets - and we couldn’t be happier about it!

THE MINNESOTA TWINS

Okay, so they’re not twins (as you can see) and this has nothing to do with baseball, but they are from Minnesota.  And they did ’step up to the plate’ and volunteer.  Well, enough of that.  Here is the photo of our Minnesota Twins,  Jan and Marga, who joined us at Highland Farms.  You can tell by their smiles that they had an absolutely fabulous time and if they were local we’d be sure to see more of them.  Their humor and easy style made the afternoon go quickly.

LAST MINUTE CALL FOR HELP

Fortunately for us, Fred was into spontaneous action this afternoon.  Because that’s what we needed from a volunteer.  We had more flowers than we could handle on our own so we gave him a call.  It was a beautiful, warm December day so we worked outside at Highland Farms. What a treat!  Rose joined us and we arranged flowers in a most relaxing way.  We had a few bees buzzing around the flowers while we talked quietly, picking up roses, carnations, spider mums…..and doing what we do so well, sticking them into cups.

JUDY COMES TO THE RESCUE!

Happy to once again have Judy helping us out!  We certainly needed her today at Magnolia.  We made 105 bouquets and went through 8 buckets stuffed with beautiful flowers from Fresh Market in Asheville.  That is a lot of small cups full of flowers.  But we were all up to the task - Nanette and Vernelle helped us and Caleigh also joined in.  Caleigh’s in 6th grade and volunteers at Magnolia during the holidays.  She’s in the blue shirt in the photo to the left.  She wasn’t so sure about flower arranging but after watching for a bit she decided to give it a try.  Found out she has quite a knack for it!

OUR SURPRISE VOLUNTEER

This is a photo of Jen and Leon.  Jen helped us out at Shadybrook.  It was an incredibly delightful morning for all of us.  She filled the place with willing residents and had a wonderful way of engaging with each of them.  Jen flew all the way from Colorado to volunteer with Second Bloom and so far has the record for most miles traveled to reach us.  It’s possible she’ll hold that for a little while, although you just never know who might show up to help us out.  Look at the gorgeous arrangement of flowers.  The colors are spectacular!  And no one could resist them.  But then, if someone like Jen showed up at your door, smiling with a bouquet of flowers for you, would you refuse?  I didn’t think so.

MANY SHEARS MAKE LIGHT WORK

It was an amazing array of volunteers, residents and flowers at The Laurels of Green Tree Ridge.  The flowers were from both Fresh Market and the Biltmore, quite a fantastic variety to work with.  Both Judy and Fred returned for another round of flower arranging with us and Jackie also joined us for the first time.  Jackie is pictured here in the photo to the right with Marjorie, a resident of the Laurels.  She helps us each time we come.  However, even though today was Jackie’s first time with Second Bloom, she’s already planning on returning next week!  You know what this means, don’t you?  Yes, volunteering is great fun.  Wonder why?  Well, for starters it’s very satisfying to work creatively with the flowers - we don’t often get that opportunity.  And it is especially touching to do that with some of the residents, to bring them flowers to their room, to spend a few minutes talking, to brighten up their lives and their environment.  The activity enriches us all.

LOVING PRESENCE

Jackie, Fred and Alan all volunteered with Second Bloom this past week at Highland Farms Retirements Center.   Jackie was our designated photographer.  It was Fred’s first time volunteering with us.  Here’s a great photo of  him with Martha.  Look at the direct, open contact he’s making.  Fred said that his mother used to arrange flowers all the time.  He definitely took to it easily.   Not only was Fred good but he was fast.  He and Alan were like a tag team.  They made sure everyone got an arrangement, wheeling the cart full of flowers down the sprawling hallways.  What a wonderful presence they all are for the residents, greeting them openly and whole heartedly, willing to spend a few minutes talking with them as they give them these beautiful flowers.  The flowers are the vehicle that allows for this warm exchange.

OUR FIRST PROFESSIONAL VOLUNTEER

We always wondered what it would be like to have a real professional volunteer with us, someone who actually knew what they were doing.  Someone who probably would not subscribe to my ‘cut and stuff’ method of floral arranging.  Well, today we were fortunate to have Judy Garry, owner of Your Vase Or Mine,  volunteer with us at Hospice.  We showed up with flowers from Fresh Market and Judy brought a couple of buckets full of holly and other evergreens.  We were set to go to work.  She did notice that we worked at quite a clip, a pace that comes from regularly making 100 bouquets at a time!  But it didn’t seem to bother her at all.  She made beautiful arrangements, large and small, totally loves working with flowers and is destined to be a repeat volunteer!

MUSCLES FOR SECOND BLOOM

Here’s Alan, getting some flowers out of the back of the truck.  Right away I loved him as a volunteer -I mean, he can carry two buckets at a time!  We were already ahead of schedule by the time we got in the door at Highland Farms Retirement Center.  And that was a good thing because we only had the dining hall for an hour before they were going to be setting up for dinner.  But that was no problem for the three of us and Helen, one of the residents that came to help out.  In no time we had beautiful bouquets handed out to every single resident.  Each of us had our own style:  Alan’s arrangements were light and airy.  But he was quick - he ran out of room on his table in about 15 minutes.  I was at a table with Helen.  My method is the no frills, cut and stuff method.  Helen said that she takes a bit more time than ’some’ but she wants it to be really nice…….hmmmm.  And what about Lisa?  Well, every good team needs a water girl - today it was her.

WILD BLOOM CHASE

Early Sunday morning we sent Jackie, a  new volunteer, off to High Vista Country Club to secure flowers from a wedding the previous night.  She arrived with buckets in hand, but the place had been wiped clean.  She looked everywhere, but came up empty.  Jackie doesn’t give up easily so she kept searching, knowing there were flowers out there somwhere in Asheville.  And she was determined to find them.  Check out her success!  It took about an hour but she secured some beautiful flowers from Blossoms at Biltmore Park that she and Nancy took to Shadybrook.  They made over 30 bouquets for the residents.  She is truly a Second Bloom Scavenger.