Talk about flower power.
Science has proven that when we receive a bouquet of flowers, it instantly brightens our day and lifts our spirits.
As a result, it’s not surprising that American florists bring in an incredible $7 billion in annual revenues — but many chronically ill patients at hospices aren’t able to afford to keep their bedside stocked with flowers at all times.
To help brighten these patients’ days with bursts of color and beauty, landscape designer Shawn Chamberlain recently founded Full Bloom, an organization that delivers flowers to patients’ bedsides.
According to AOL News, Chamberlain and a team of volunteers collects donations of used flowers from weddings and gardens and gives them a new chance to make people happy. The organization, based in Northern Idaho, recuts, rearranges and repurposes these flowers and delivers them to patients in nearby hospitals, hospices, nursing homes and other long-term care facilities.
“At Full Bloom we recycle love by recycling flowers,” the group’s website states. “Because we do, we not only give love to the patients in our community, but we are giving love back to our beautiful earth. We strive to reuse every stem we receive.”
Chamberlain was inspired to start Full Bloom while working on a landscape design project at a nearby hospice. After catching a glimpse into a young mother’s room, she picked some flowers from the hospice’s garden and snuck them into her room.
The idea grew — literally — from there, the Huffington Post reports; Chamberlain realized wedding flowers are the perfect way to give patients gorgeous flowers without having to spend hundreds of dollars per bouquet.
“I love getting the flowers from weddings,” Chamberlain said. “They’re coming from very talented florists, and as I’m taking them apart I can see the bride’s style, or the color she picked. Recycling that love is just giving more of that love.”
Chamberlain explained that it doesn’t take much effort to simply be kind to others. Random acts of kindness like hers could certainly help the world be a better place — one bouquet of flowers at a time.