Haley Sly, left, with Repurposed Blooms volunteer Kathe Patterson. Sly began repurposing flowers in 2018 when she was managing the flowers for her sister’s wedding and thought it would be a good idea to recycle the floral arrangements and take them to nursing homes.By Anne Ruisi
Like rice that gets swept up and tossed after a bride and groom get in a limousine outside the church, floral arrangements that grace weddings and receptions often end up in the trash heap.
Saving leftover bridal flowers and recycling them into arrangements that bring joy to residents of senior living centers and hospices is a mission for Haley Sly and the volunteers with Repurposed Blooms, a nonprofit organization serving Birmingham and surrounding areas that Sly began five years ago.
“One guy said, ‘We threw out $75,000 worth of flowers,’” Sly recalled hearing when she started collecting donated flowers, which also come from non-bridal events.
She began in 2018 when she was managing the flowers for her sister’s wedding and thought it would be a good idea to recycle the floral arrangements and take them to nursing homes, assisted living and rehabilitation centers and those receiving hospice care. Sly made seven smaller arrangements from the wedding flowers.
Now, 15 senior living facilities in Jefferson and Shelby counties are regular recipients of the flowers, which are arranged in Mason jars and accompanied by a cheery note written on a card by the volunteers. The flowers also are delivered to other sites, sometimes to as many as 50 places, Sly said.
“Our goal is to bring joy to those in need by delivering flowers with a smile and encouraging fellowship,” Sly said.
Work begins late on Saturday nights, when most wedding receptions end. Sly, with help mainly from her mother and sister, collects most of the flowers, making the rounds of country clubs and event venues to pick up donated leftovers and take them to Repurposed Blooms’ office in Vestavia Hills.
On Sunday afternoons, volunteers arrive, don work aprons and start to break down the donated flowers, which are often in large arrangements and sprays. Most of the flowers are white, cream or pastel colored.
On a recent Sunday, volunteers delighted in several large arrangements that held peach-colored blossoms. They picked which blooms and greenery they wanted to use for the smaller arrangements, often trimming them or pulling off petals that were withering or brown on the edges.
Creating the arrangements isn’t difficult, as some might assume, Sly said. Newcomers are given basic instructions and other volunteers are always ready to help. All the materials needed, such as scissors, are on hand.
“I tell people not to be intimidated. Make sure the flowers look good and are still alive” when making an arrangement, Sly said.
While most of the arrangements are set in Mason jars, some are in large vases, such as when large flowers are involved. Most of the arrangements are delivered on Mondays but sometimes that extends into Tuesdays.
Since October, the volunteers have made 3,300 floral arrangements for distribution, Sly said. At Christmas, volunteers decorate about 100 small, artificial Christmas trees to give mostly to hospices. Volunteers use hot glue guns to place ornaments on the 10-inch trees.
“Win-Win Thing”
Jeanne Walls of Mountain Brook and her sister, Kathe Patterson, a longtime Cahaba Heights resident who now lives in Irondale, are regular volunteers.
Walls said she found out about Repurposed Blooms in 2020 when her daughter married. Their wedding planner suggested donating the flowers after the reception. When Patterson’s daughter married last year, the same wedding planner suggested giving the leftover flowers to Repurposed Blooms.
The sisters got involved as volunteers when they saw on Instagram that Sly was looking for volunteers. They thought it would be fun to participate, signed up and have enjoyed the experience, they said.
“It’s like being a kid in a candy shop,” Walls said of putting together the arrangements.
Patterson agreed and said it also brings them personal satisfaction.
“It’s such a win-win kind of thing. People have leftover flowers and they don’t get tossed. It’s a creative outlet, therapeutic and you know it’s going to a nursing home or hospice,” she said.
Among the helpers are 40 senior citizens who volunteer through AmeriCorps Seniors. Repurposed Blooms received a $111,000 Senior Demonstration Program Grant funded through the American Rescue Plan.
Many older people have been reluctant to get in group settings since the COVID pandemic and the grant seeks to encourage seniors to get involved as volunteers in their community. The funding helps support the program by paying for materials, snacks for the volunteers, insurance coverage and other items to help the volunteers.
Repurposed Blooms is recruiting volunteers, especially seniors. The goal is to get 125 seniors to participate by next June, Sly said. Anyone who is interested in volunteering or scheduling a donation pickup can visit the website at repurposedblooms.org.
The experience is good for everyone involved, Sly said.
“For the people who make them, it makes their day and offers a creative outlet,” she said. “For the people who receive them, it brightens their day.”
Sandra Miller, 79, is a Galleria Woods resident who distributes Repurposed Blooms at the Hoover senior living center. She takes the delivered arrangements to residents in the center’s skilled nursing and assisted living units.
Some residents have family that visit, but a lot don’t, with some never getting any visitors, Miller said. Receiving a vase of flowers puts a smile on their faces.
“I think it’s a wonderful thing they do,” she said, referring to Repurposed Blooms. “God made those flowers and he doesn’t want them thrown out.”
English (US)