Flower Rescue: Louisville Volunteers Deliver 100 Vases Weekly

Volunteers who recover flowers destined for disposal and carry them to hospice patients and shelters are marking a milestone, having delivered more than 90,000 vases since 2006. The Flower Buds, a group that meets weekly inside Crescent Hill Baptist Church in Louisville, repurposes blooms sourced from weddings, funerals, wholesalers, supermarkets, florists, galas, banquets and other community events.

The volunteers cut, clean and arrange the material into vases. Jodie Raible, a Flower Buds volunteer, described the workflow: Kroger overbuys and cannot sell the inventory, then allows the group to collect it. "We cut them, clean them and vase them," Raible said. "Then we take them to nursing homes, the VA hospital, assisted living facilities." The group distributes about 100 vases each week.

Clem Russell, a veteran volunteer, handles deliveries to the VA hospital. "We deliver to the hospice unit there at the VA and they love seeing them come in. The families are so happy to see the flowers," Russell said. Raible addressed the patients who receive them: "When you are in the end stages of your life you want to be cheered up." Stephanie Mullins, another volunteer, takes flowers to Up for Women and Children, a day shelter for women.

The group began with six to eight volunteers and now has 40. Mullins has participated for 18 years, a commitment she tied to her own retirement. "I love flowers and this is what I wanted to do when I retired," she said. Mullins also described the fate of the material she handles: "All these flowers would be thrown in the garbage, so we put them to good use."

The deliveries reach nursing homes, the VA hospital, assisted living facilities and shelters. Since 2006, the Flower Buds have delivered more than 90,000 vases. The group's work addresses a specific waste stream: flowers from events and retail overstock that would otherwise be discarded, redirected instead to patients and residents in care settings.