It was so sad to see all the unsold flowers being thrown away at the Dutch market this week.  There is an assumption that flowers are an extravagance and a luxury, but actually the impact of flowers on our sense of wellbeing is huge.

We are often drawn to flowers as a way of helping to make good a loss, as well as expressing sympathy. Think about the last time you drove past a roadside incident - seeing the flowers that are left in that place really do help to start the healing process! And flowers can and will start the healing process for us during and after this crisis.

What is more, we have always had a policy of minimising our waste and so we supplied 45 bouquets for the Ronald MacDonald  House Trust which supplies accommodation for the families of people who are in hospital so they can visit their loved ones.  We normally give our left over flowers to the charity Floral Angels but, as they are no longer operating because of the current situation, we delivered them to the Trust ourselves.  

The upside of this was that we got to witness the heartfelt joy of the people working at Ronald Macdonald House when they saw all our flowers, knowing the pleasure it would give to the families using their accommodation.  Apparently, one of them burst into tears as they received this small gift that reminded them of the comforts they had left behind in order to be with their loved one in a moment of crisis.

We are also offering our van to Buzzbikes  to help make sure that health workers can get to work safely, and to delivery companies to make sure people can get the supplies they need and to reduce the temptation to stockpile and leave some with nothing.

Finally, we want to help people who are starting to suffer from the long term effects of the stress of the situation by sending out the message to ’stay positive’ - we will use yellow (for ‘stay positive’) and purple/lilac flowers  (for ‘stay calm’) to help people remember that the crisis will eventually be over and we will have the chance to heal.  

One of the positives to come from a terrible situation is the chance to remember how lucky we are to be here and not to take for granted all that we have, whether or not it is more or less than the next person. This is truly a moment to be grateful for anything we have now, and to start to turn our minds towards how we will celebrate when the crisis is finally over.  

See our #Staypositive Posies for #NETCoronavirusAppeal Bouquet here.

Remember to stay positive! 

Liz and the team