60 SUMMER 2020 | WWW.SHAKER.LIFE
Ass emble
Big Hearted Blooms:
Kindness Grows in Shaker Heights
Two years ago, Fernway resident Sue Buddenbaum came up with an idea
at her kitchen table. Why not repurpose the still-fresh flowers that are thrown
away after special events? The flowers could be rearranged into smaller vases
and delivered to isolated seniors who could use a kind gesture and a cheerful
dose of nature. If it was possible in other cities – and Buddenbaum saw that
it was, in a similar organization called Random Acts of Flowers – then it was
possible here, too. And so Big Hearted Blooms was born.
As Shaker once again teems with summer flowers and greenery,
Buddenbaum is hoping that Big Hearted Blooms will also be emerging from
its temporary dormancy caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In the long run,
though, the stay-at-home order may underscore how important this work is.
“I think our mission is going to be more important than ever as we come out of
this crisis because everyone will really understand the effects of loneliness and
isolation,” says Buddenbaum. “We’re all living it firsthand.”
Since 2018, when Buddenbaum and a handful of Shaker Heights women
launched the nonprofit, Big Hearted Blooms has delivered nearly 7,000
bouquets. The organization started out with borrowed space on Larchmere
Boulevard and now rents space in a Shaker resident-owned building in the St.
Clair neighborhood of Cleveland.
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