Monday, August 28, 2006

In Case You Were Wondering.....


what would happen to all the flowers from the Jimmy V gala? Here's the story about it. I can't make it large enough for you to read, but all the flowers were collected by a group called The Flower Shuttle. They gather flowers left over from funerals, parties and grocery stores and re-arrange them for delivery to hospitals, nursing homes, shut-ins or hospice patients.

The volunteers met us at the RBC Center when the gala was over, and they loaded the 85 arrangements into a large truck, donated by Cleveland Plant and Flower Co. The flowers were taken back to the wholesaler for storage in the cooler, and they will be re-arranged Monday and Tuesday.

Prior to the start of The Flower Shuttle, all of the arrangements would have been tossed out - or scavenged by the waitstaff and gala patrons. The shuttle has turned that ignominious end into a wonderful solution for everyone involved, as well as the eventual recipients.

At the end of the loooooong night of clean-up and retrieval of our containers and other decor items, I drove home, exhausted and fairly worn to a frazzle (as my mom would have said), at 2:15 am. But though tired, I was once again delighted and gratified at participating.

Don't tell my boss, but seeing just 30 minutes of Cirque du Soleil acrobats and dancers made all the hard work worthwhile (although the check helped too!) Their costumes, the music and lighting were exciting to see, and the acrobatic and balancing arts they practice are thrilling and awe-inspiring. Someday I hope to be able to see an entire production in Las Vegas. I will be like a kid at her first circus!

Mr. kenju says I ought to tell you who Jim Valvano (Jimmy V) was. He was the National Championship winning basketball coach at North Carolina State University, who died of cancer about 14-15 years ago. You can read all about him here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Valvano







9 comments:

rennratt said...

I just read that article in the N&O! I thought of you when I read that.

Glad to see that you were involved!

srp said...

A wonderful charity event and a great idea for the left over flowers. I bet many patients will have their day brightened.

brendalove@gmail.com said...

Once again - HOORAY for Jimmy V!

Moon said...

Thats a great way to get more life* so to speak out of lovely flowers!!
As for seeing Cirque du Soleil..you could also come see them here in Montreal lol...It's their home base. hint hint lol

Catherine said...

That sounds like a great event, and a wonderful way of dealing with the flowers afterwards.
Here from Michele's

Kristen said...

what a reaaly wonderful idea! and the flower arrangements were so beautiful, i'm sure that their recipients were overjoyed to have them.

Jamie Dawn said...

I've seen one of those shows in Vegas and they are spectacular. You MUST see one some day.

The gala sounds like a wonderful affair.
What a neat organization that collects the flowers and recylces them to bring joy to others.

The dragon/mermaid figurine is really delightful!
It makes me want to read a fairytale. :)

OldLady Of The Hills said...

What a beautiful thing to do and I've always thought this is such a great solution to these beautiful arrangements that will just get tossed! I hope they did that here with all the Emmy Flowers....! This is such a culture of waste isn't itr?

Anonymous said...

What a beautiful way to repurpose such lovely, lovely arrangements.

Your work was gorgeous, Kenju, and the event, spectacular. ;-)

"Never give up."