Meet the ‘Flower Buds’ who give donated flowers a new purpose

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Aging Untold) — A group of volunteers at Crescent Hill Baptist Church is turning donated flowers into arrangements for people in nursing homes, assisted living facilities, shelters and the VA.

The volunteers call themselves the Flower Buds.

“These flowers, they’re so varied, and sometimes we even get to learn their names,” Jodie Raible, a Flower Buds volunteer, said. “It’s a joy. It’s a joy, truthfully, to be able to do this.”

Stephanie Mullins, a Flower Buds volunteer, said she started with the group after retiring.

“This is what I wanted to do when I retired. So, I’ve been doing this for 18 years now,” Mullins said. “There weren’t many of us when we first started, maybe six or eight, and we probably have 40 volunteers now.”

Volunteering fills a need

Amy O’Rourke, an Aging Untold expert, said volunteering provides benefits beyond the recipients.

“When you’re giving back through volunteering, you have that sense of meaning and purpose,” O’Rourke said.

The Flower Buds take donated flowers from weddings, funerals, supermarkets, wholesalers and other community events and turn them into arrangements.

“We send out about 100 vases every week,” Mary Ann King, a Flower Buds volunteer, said.

“All these flowers would be thrown in the garbage, so we put them to good use,” Mullins said.

O’Rourke said that repurposing is the beauty of the group’s work.

“I love the idea of repurposing flowers, and then I think about them walking into the room and how uplifted they must feel giving the flowers and then how the other person feels uplifted, too,” O’Rourke said.

The Flower Buds have delivered more than 90,000 vases since 2006.