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