FloweRescue Weekly Volunteer Gatherings
FloweRescue's model is simple: take surplus (waste) flowers — from wholesalers, florists and event organizers — and donate them along to people who might not otherwise have access to flowers: people in hospitals, elderly homes and other isolated situations.
But inquiring minds want to know, exactly from where and how do we get the rescue flowers, what do we do with them, and where do they go?
Well, an average week looks like this …
It starts in a large, seemingly nondescript warehouse near Kalasatama. This is the location of Kukkatoimitus, the main FloweRescue partner and sponsor, which also hosts FloweRescue operations.
Flowers have been gathered up for the donation. These may be surplus flowers from an event or workshop, or those which are old or broken and can no longer be sold. Kukkatoimitus is a wholesaler and sells primarily in bulk, so often if there are a few moldy or damaged flowers in a large package, the entire package must be thrown away. Yet some of the flowers in the package can usually be salvaged. These are ideal candidates for rescue flower donations.
At least once each week, FloweRescue volunteers gather to sort and process the flower donation, and to turn the donated flowers into beautiful bouquets.
We begin by pulling all the flowers out of their packaging, and separating the bad ones from the good.
Then we process the good flowers. In flower shop speak, "processing" means cleaning and freshening the flowers: pulling off extra leaves, removing any thorns, trimming the stems and putting the flowers into clean water. This rejuvenates the flowers and helps them to last longer.
Processing is a fun and dirty business, and we usually make a big mess of things. Once we're finished, we clean up and prepare for the next phase: bouquet making.
While processing, we sort the flowers by type and size and set them up as a flower bar.
This is beautiful to look at, and makes it easy to work with. Flower rescuing requires no previous experience with or knowledge about flowers, because each week we assess the available "ingredients" and create a simple and easy-to-follow recipe for the bouquets.
We share a few tips on how to design a balanced and bright bouquet …
… and then everyone gets a chance to create!
We make about 50 bouquets per week, which means each volunteer gets to make plenty of bouquets.
In the following days, the bouquets are delivered to one of the FloweRescue recipients.
Most often we take the deliveries by Uber or by car with one of our volunteers.
And occasionally we use this sweet delivery bicycle, lent to us by Viherpalvelu Greener.
Since December 2018 — thanks to the support of our partners and the efforts of 135 individual volunteers — FloweRescue has delivered over 22,000 flowers to elderly homes, hospitals and charities around the Helsinki metro area.
Are you curious to join one of our volunteer bouquet making sessions, or to learn more about FloweRescue and how to get involved? Check us out on Facebook or Instagram, or send us an email: admin(at)flowerescue.org
And, thanks to Rahul Pardasani for snapping most of the beautiful photos accompanying this post.
