Collect
Deliver
Opposite page: Sue Buddenbaum (top),
SHHS sophomore Maya Miller.
This page: Volunteers arranging and
delivering flowers.
Assemble, collect and deliver photos courtesy
of Big Hearted Blooms.
And there’s much more room to grow. Big Hearted Blooms started by
donating bouquets to nursing homes and senior living facilities, and it is now
adding hospitals, substance abuse homes, cancer centers, Alzheimer’s units,
hospices, and even outpatient facilities such as dialysis centers. It’s staffed by
volunteers who do everything from spending a few hours arranging flowers in
the cheerful St. Clair Avenue workroom to picking up flowers from donors or
delivering bouquets to care facilities.
With the recent acquisition of a cooler to keep flowers fresh, Big Hearted
Blooms is looking for even more flowers. Donors range from newlyweds to
florists and grocery stores. The new cooler, plus a steady, predictable volume of
flowers, will allow Big Hearted Blooms to reach many more recipients.
“We’re just trying to grow as much
as we can because we know we barely
scratch the surface of what the demand
could be,” says Buddenbaum.
If social distancing continues to
make it difficult to reach care facilities,
but flowers are available, Big Hearted
Blooms will deliver to those on the
front lines: first responders, postal
workers, healthcare professionals, and
so on. In late April, they made their first
such delivery – to the Environmental
Services team at the Cleveland Clinic.
“These are the folks that keep
the facility clean, among other things.
They are an often forgotten group
but very much front line, and it was
great to thank them with flowers,” says
Buddenbaum. “We’ll keep celebrating
our essential workers until we can once
again serve those in care facilities.”
Growing a nonprofit from the
ground up has been a tremendous
amount of work. Buddenbaum says
that at the beginning she didn’t
really know exactly how much she
was taking on, but that the Shaker
community’s support has made Big
Hearted Blooms possible. From
donating vases to fundraising and
volunteering, Shaker residents have
stepped up. “It’s been an amazing
experience, so much more gratifying
than I could have anticipated.”
Learn more at bigheartedblooms.org.
SL
WWW.SHAKER.LIFE | SUMMER 2020 61
/bigheartedblooms.org
/WWW.SHAKER.LIFE