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Pollen Unveils Its Flower Donation Program: ReBloom

8/28/16

I’ve often said that after a wedding or event, the flowers are only six hours older than they were at the start of the event, and they still have a lot of life left in them. As a florist, one of the more painful parts of the event industry is seeing all of our work go into the trash after the event. Such a waste! At Pollen, we’ve worked to minimize the waste of all aspects of our business, including these slightly used flowers. We bring the flowers back to our studio, donate what we can, and compost the rest.

Flower donation

Lightly used wedding centerpieces, lined up to be reworked into bedside arrangements for donation. Photo by Clare Britt Photo.

After years of providing regular flower donations to Ravenswood Community Services’ weekly dinners and on an as-requested basis to organizations with missions that are in line with the priorities of the business, Pollen is expanding the program to include hands-on volunteer opportunities to organizations and businesses. We’re excited to officially unveil our flower donation program, ReBloom.

Through ReBloom, small groups join Pollen’s floral designers at Pollen’s studio to rework our briefly used flowers to make floral arrangements for donation to people who could use a little lift. Participants learn some basic floral design, then work under the guidance of one of Pollen’s floral designers to create floral designs from arrangements that are returned to the studio after the weekend’s events. Once the arrangements are complete, the group delivers the flowers to a nearby assisted living facility, hospital, or similar place.

Flower donation

Volunteer/designers create new arrangements for donation. Photo by Clare Britt Photo.

Flower donation workshop

Volunteers choose from the lightly used wedding flowers to create new arrangements for donation.

Flower donation workshop

Volunteers deliver and distribute the arrangements to a nearby assisted living facility.

ReBloom flower donation program in Chicago

ReBloom gives a little lift to those who could use it!

Groups of five to thirty people can schedule a two to three hour time slot to include instruction, design, and delivery of the flowers to a donation partner.  The activity is perfect for corporate team building experiences and others interested in giving back to the community.  For more information, contact lynn@pollenfloraldesign.com or sign up for the email updates here.

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  1. Marti says:

    I’m a florist working in London but feel instantly inspired to check out if such a scheme exists here. I hate waste…..& it breaks my heart when all our beautiful creations end up as rubbish. I’m also grateful for your alternative floral foam ideas. I’ve been making a conscious decision to use less plastics and I’ve just ordered chicken wire for a funeral order!…..I hope I can make it work! X

    • Lynn says:

      Thank you, Marti! Funeral orders are particularly challenging to design without foam. Kudos for your efforts to make it work without foam! I should do another blog post about how we run our flower donation program for minimal cost…

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