SAF Petal It Forward 2023: Lori's Heartwarming Experience

Episode 200: Tune in to hear Lori's heartwarming and personal experience participating in the Society of American Florists' annual Petal it Forward campaign. On October 18, florists from all 50 states came together to spread joy and love by giving away flowers to unsuspecting recipients. Find out how this nationwide event was a great success and the profound impact it had on Lori and the people she encountered. Discover the power of flowers in brightening someone's day and spreading positivity in this inspiring episode.

Sponsored by:
Flower Clique
Flower Clique Prep School
Real Life Retail Florist

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:03

The quote in the book Atomic Habits. Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become.

SPEAKER_00 0:17

Welcome to the business and pleasure of flowers. We're your hosts, Vonda LaFever and Lori Wilson.

SPEAKER_01 0:23

And we believe that business and fun are a perfect combination. Kind of like us, Vonda.

SPEAKER_00 0:33

Lori, we have such a heartwarming story to share today.

SPEAKER_01 0:38

We do, we do, and my heart is still warm. And it happened last week, and I'm still kind of reeling from it. I keep going on social media and looking at all of the pictures, not only from my pedal it forward day, our pedal it forward day with Flower Click, but everybody, all of the shops.

SPEAKER_00 1:03

It is. It is. So that's exactly what we're going to talk about is pedal it forward in on October 18th. It was, I think it started by the Society of American Florists. Right. And this was the ninth annual Peddle It Forward.

SPEAKER_01 1:21

Okay. I didn't know that. I mean, I didn't do any deep dive research, but I was wondering this morning how many years they had done this.

SPEAKER_00 1:29

Yeah. So it says that there were 580 floral businesses in the 50 states and six countries that spread the joy of flowers during pedal it forward on October 18th. Isn't that something? That's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 1:46

That's absolutely amazing. I gotta tell you, you know, I've been wanting to do it for a while. And it's it's kind of, I don't want to say hard, but it's a little been a little difficult for us to participate because when you think about pedal it forward, for those listeners that don't know what pedal it forward is, it's it's a day where most flower shops and some a lot of wholesale houses, you take the day and you just pass out flowers, small bouquets, or maybe one or two flowers, and you give them to people out of as an act of kindness, or you give them two bouquets and say one for you and one you're to give to someone that you love or a friend or a stranger that needs that. Um, and it's just to spread kindness, uh right.

SPEAKER_00 2:38

And that's the idea was to give two and you keep one for yourself and then share one with someone else. Right. So that's how it the whole thing started.

SPEAKER_01 2:46

So I would look at it every year and like, ah, I want to do this, I want to do this, I want to partner with, you know, I want to go, and I would tell you this, I would have FOMO every year, every year. You did. And so this year, I don't know, it was like a month before it happened, and we were on a staff meeting, and you and Ellie surprised me, and you were like, All right, it's your year, you're doing it. We're sending you our bundles, blah, blah, blah. You had already talked to Amy from our farms, and I was so excited. But then my immediate reaction was excitement. But then my second was, how? What am I gonna do? Like, how are we gonna do this? I'm in a house, like I can't stand on my street corner. So I was thinking, you know, trying to figure out you were like, uh, just ask your neighbor. You guys will figure it out. And I was like, Yeah, you know, and I was thinking might well. There's a fire department down the street, and so I got on the SAF's website because they're so good. They have lots of different stories, lots of different ways you can help. They have everything you need on there. And I got a lot of different ideas, and I saw a shop, and I can't remember who, but it was a shop last year or the year before that did it a little bit differently than others. And what they did is they went to a nursing home, and I started reading about that, and I was like, hmm. And and they partnered with a food bank. That was it, that was the other thing, and I was like, Oh my gosh, my cousin, she works at a food bank, she's pretty high up in the food bank here, and so I texted her and I was like, hey, and I was giving her all the information, and she was called me, and she was like, What? So I was telling her about it, and she goes, Okay, and I said, How about I come and we pass out flowers at your food bank and we like market it and anybody that brings food, and she said, We can absolutely do that. She said, However, we are very fortunate at our food bank where we live in our place, and we are we have amazing sponsors, we have amazing everything. She said, What would you think if we maybe stepped outside of our bubble a little bit and went into a community that doesn't get a lot of love and doesn't get a lot of visitors? And I was like, sign me up, sister. Yes, that's that you're speaking loud. I was like, that sounds way better. So one of the cool parts of her job is she travels with the food bank and she teaches nutrition classes, and so she has a lot of affiliations with these places. So we ended up going to a senior center, it is not a nursing home, it is not a place where they live. Picture like a community center, they call it a friendship center, and every day they serve a hot meal for seniors and they have activities. So my cousin and I recruited my son, and we recruited his girlfriend, but she unfortunately didn't get to come because she didn't get out of class in time. Okay, but he thankfully got out early because we needed him to help carry all the buckets. So, anyway, we went and we walked in, and they were already in this room sitting down, having their lunch, and they were getting ready to play bingo. They had actually just finished their lunch because they eat quite early, they like to eat like at 11. Um, and the woman in charge was doing announcements, and she was telling them, you know, all of the things. Anyway, I'm just standing in the back. All of a sudden, she looked up at me and she said, Oh, the flower lady's here. Come on up. I had no idea she was gonna do this, so I walked up, she hands me the microphone, and so I just started talking to them and explaining to them what I was doing. They got so excited, Vonda. It was hilarious. My heart was just instantly warm, and I explained to them what we're gonna do. We started out, I started explaining to them I was they were gonna, if they wanted two bouquets, they could have two bouquets. Well, we ran out of flowers very quickly because every single one of these people wanted two bouquets because every single one of these people also, when we gave them the flowers, wanted us to sit with them because they wanted to share with us who they were gonna give those flowers to. Yeah. And the majority of them were going to give them to one of their caretakers or the person that drives them here, or their daughter who takes them to the doctor's appointments, or somebody that you know who takes care of them because they don't have any, they've never been able to give them anything. And oh, geez. I think I told you when I got back, we jumped on a Zoom call and we were all crying because I'm like, I just I was so incredibly blessed. One of the main things when you're on SAF's website, they talk about all of the marketing strategies and you know, take all the pictures and do all the hashtags. Like, I never had my phone out. Like, I was the worst at it. Thank goodness my cousin took some pictures.

SPEAKER_00 8:59

You were the most present during the whole thing. I was no, that's that it's better than marketing, right? Right, you know, employee.

SPEAKER_01 9:11

Totally, I totally forgot. But you know, I was at one table talking to this group of women, and this woman was telling me, she said, my daughter's birthday is coming up, and I can't wait. She said, Where's your flower shop? I can so I can order flowers. I want to come to your store, and I was like, Oh, I don't have a store. And I started telling her about what I do in the most simple way possible, because you know, they're not gonna get it. Virtual company, that means nothing to them. They're like, That sounds ridiculous. But I was telling them, you know, how my boss and some other people from our team just got back from Columbia and they actually met the women that made these bouquets and they touched every single, and so you know, they thought that was really amazing. And one of the women were like, Isn't that fascinating that they have been to that part of the world? Like they were just, you know, just fascinated. And so the woman continued with, I would really like to order flowers for my daughter for her birthday, who's tomorrow or whatever. But she's like, I they're just I know they're expensive, and I da da da. And so the woman next to her said, You can have mine, and then the other woman's like, Marjorie, or whatever name is, you can have mine too. And she goes, Look, we put all of these together. Oh, jeez, and they make a beautiful bouquet because they were they were real cute bouquets, and uh, there were tables lined up around the outside of the center because bingo, right? So there's prizes everywhere, and so there was a whole bunch of like vases, just used vases, and one of the they're like, Look, we can go steal one of the vases, and some of the women went over and stole one of the vases. There you go. Her daughter had flowers, and I'm like, look at that, ladies! That's teamwork right there. Oh, but and you know, and I'm trying not to cry, but it was just it was amazing.

SPEAKER_00 11:29

But what it really shows you is what flowers really do, no matter what age, no matter what setting, the joy and excitement, yeah, and love that they were even showing one another.

SPEAKER_01 11:43

Absolutely. Well, and another thing, the thing was the woman running the show kept going to the micro because they had to all stay seated, or they were not allowed to get flowers because they kept jumping up to come over to the cart to get the flowers, and she's like, No, Henry, you're not getting them until you stay seated. Because Henry Henry's the one that was trying to steal the flowers. I told you about it. He was Henri, he was something, he was hilarious. He came over and because this was after we announced we couldn't give two bouquets because we were running out, and so everyone that had to, we had to go back and said, say, Do you mind giving up one? Because this whole side of the room didn't get one. So it did remind me of when I did part of my student teaching in kindergarten. It honestly did, as far as sharing and and having to see who's willing to share. But Henry came back up to the cart and said, I want another one. And he had one in his hand, and my son said, Um, well, right now we're only giving one because we're running out, and so he left and he went over to my cousin and asked for one, and she said, Right now we're only giving one because we're and so he went back and sat down, then he came back up with it kind of hiding, and he told my son, somebody stole mine. Kindergarten for sure, exactly. And I said, Reese, what did you do? And he said, I was tired of messing with him, so I just gave him another one. So anyway, but they were so delightful, absolutely delightful, and all of the mostly the women, they they talked about the flowers, they told me about when they used to grow flowers and their garden. I mean, it just, you know, they loved them, they loved them, they were so appreciative. At the very end, I did, I was like, oh, you guys, I have to get pictures, I'm gonna get in so much trouble because I remembered then, and so I put my camera up above my head and I said, say flower click, they all raised them up as high as they could, still remained seated because they got to and yelled flower click, like they have no idea what they were saying, but they were saying no idea, no idea, but it was it was wonderful, it was so good, and I I've thought of them every day since then, you know. Oh my god. I keep thinking, you know, what can I do again for them sometime yesterday? I was thinking, you know what? So they have so they have bingo, as we know, which is a very big deal, and that's what they got threatened with getting not being able to play if they didn't calm down and listen to the announcements. But I also thought they have holiday parties, like they're getting ready to have a big Halloween party. Um, and then they'll have, but I was thinking maybe like at Christmas or maybe for their Valentine party, maybe I'll order like a box of one of our bundles and I'll make, you know, I'm not a designer, they won't care. Some and I'll bring them in for like a drawing. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 15:40

Just something simple like that where there'll be however many I can make, and you you could do centerpieces for the table and then doing that tables.

SPEAKER_01 15:52

I don't know if I did they don't know. I'm not you're not gonna fly you in for that one, but even if I did like five or however many in the bundle, and they did a drawing that just something to give them that would make their day, and I could be a part of it. Yeah, it just reminded me how much fun it is to be with people and to serve others. It's actually very selfish on our part when we do that because we're the ones, you know, they're they're not sitting around thinking about, oh, that girl in the pink shirt, she was so sweet. I'm the one that can't stop thinking about them.

SPEAKER_00 16:34

Yeah, but I bet you're still being talked about in the flowers, because you know, there's nothing happens real exciting in their life every day. And that was pretty exciting. That was yeah, something up and above. And you can see why in nine years of pedal it forward, it has grown. Because if you do it once, you're not gonna not do it the next year, right? And you're gonna tell your floral friends, it's like, oh my gosh, you guys should do this, you know, for the investment it is in your money, right? And a little bit of time. Wow, the payback. Maybe you're gonna get a few customers, but more than anything, you're gonna see the joy that flowers bring to people who don't usually get flowers every day or right, even once or twice a year.

SPEAKER_01 17:23

Yeah, it was so fun that night. Of course, I'm scrolling through social media, seeing all of our members. We had so many flower click members participating in it, and I saw the next morning Janet from McCandless in Pennsylvania, she got on the news. There were just so, so many shops, and I was just so proud. I'm like, it just keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger because people realize it's just so much fun. It's people are like, wow, it's flowers, you know. I was surprised. One funny story, I think I told you, I was surprised at all of the men that wanted the bouquet. Like, there not one man said no, thank you. Every man was like, Yeah, I want them. And so when I was at this table of all women that wanted two, I was like, Oh, ladies, I'm so sorry. We can only give one. I didn't realize all the men wanted them. This woman looked at me and she goes, It's because they all have a bunch of girlfriends, giving them to all their girlfriends. And I go, Oh, well, then in that case, should I go take them back? And one of them said, Yes.

SPEAKER_00 18:40

Maybe she wasn't the girlfriend.

SPEAKER_01 18:41

That's I said, Clearly, you're not the girlfriend singing, clearly you're not the girlfriends. Anyway, it was I was like, There's some drama here.

SPEAKER_00 18:50

Yeah, yeah. Drama.

SPEAKER_01 18:53

Yeah, there's a little bit of drama, but they were yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:56

So anybody wants to look. I mean, the Society of American Florists has some great stories that they've already posted, and I know they're gonna get more. And one I thought was kind of interesting, and it was in Stewart Flower Shop in Stewart, Iowa. They were out of flowers by 7 40 a.m. Yeah, because they they had set up at the uh early in the morning and handed them at a local gas station. And I thought, oh my gosh, you know, once they hear the word is out and the flower shop is doing something, they they all come. And yeah, and I love the one too that they gave it to the fire department, you know, and the fire department was out handing them out. And you've seen all those stories, but it just it's amazing. Wow, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:38

I really had no idea how in I think I blocked off on my calendar like three hours. I was home in an hour and a half. Remember, I texted you and I had already like eaten a sandwich and had iced tea before I sat down to text you. And I'm like, I'm home. Like, I'm like, what? You're home already? Like I said, my my son's girlfriend was supposed to come and she was so upset because I told Reese, I said, Well, text her and tell her not to not to even leave the house because we're gonna be done in like five minutes. We've run out of flowers, like it's crazy. But the point is, it's not like it's an all-day thing, it's not that much time out of your day.

SPEAKER_00 20:25

No, no, it's not, you know, it's an investment for a shop, right? Because they're paying for that, sure. But you know, gosh, what you can do in a community. I mean, you did that in a small retirement lunch, right? Which is fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 20:41

I saw, I think it was Michael Trogden Berg Flower Shop. They they had just had huge buckets and buckets and buckets and buckets outside of their door, and they were doing beautiful sunflowers. And you know me, I don't even love sunflowers, but I loved their concept. They were giving away two, the little message on it to give one to a friend to spread the kindness, and I'm thought, you know, what a beautiful representation of kindness, the sun is you know, it is Lori, it is it is, I know, I know it is, and it's it's and it's a sturdy flower. If you're giving one, I mean, those you know, but yeah, I highly recommend everyone to try it once, you know, and and if you don't want to do pedal it forward, just pick your own day, just yeah, try it because it's it's it's life giving. And and even my son was like, Yeah, that was really fun. That was fun.

SPEAKER_00 21:49

That speaks volumes when a young person can take that and who's not into flowers, right?

SPEAKER_01 21:55

No, he's not into flowers, but he is he does realize, he does know that. Helping others, I mean, help makes you a better person. I kept thinking of the quote in the book Atomic Habits by what's the author? James Clear. And the quote, I didn't want to butcher it, so I wrote it down. Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. And that's what keeps kept going through my mind on my way home. And I was like, that's so true. And I can get so bogged down in my daily work life by choice. Um working behind my computer, behind my phone, behind my microphone. Um, and I can tell myself, well, I am helping people, and I am, I am. I consult people every day about business and things, and that is helping. But when I do little things like this, it reminds me, oh yeah, this is this is who I know I want to be. This is the person I'm supposed to be. This is another vote for why I need to be doing more of this.

SPEAKER_00 23:26

Right, right.

SPEAKER_01 23:28

It's just good reminders. Don't forget who you are, don't forget who you really are. You can do both.

SPEAKER_00 23:35

You yeah, yeah, you can do both. Yeah, don't forget to spread love and joy. Right. Right. And in whatever way you can. In whatever way, right flowers, maybe it's just a little bit of time. Maybe you're gonna have to go up and play bingo with those people.

SPEAKER_01 23:50

Well, that's what I'm saying. I don't have to always bring them flowers, and it's funny that you even say that because that night, uh, one more thing about SAF, I'm friends with a lot of the next ginners. They allow me to be their friends. So one of them was texting me that evening, and she knew it was the very first time that I had done Pedro Four because we talked about it on in book club, and she was like, How was it? How'd you like it? And I was telling her all about it, and she was like, Oh my gosh, I'm done. That's the cutest thing ever. And she was like, I love bingo, that's amazing, and you know, and I was like, I know, and I thought to myself, I'm just I can just go up there some day, some Wednesday, and just go, hey, I'm gonna sit and play bingo with you guys, or hey, I'm gonna help serve food.

SPEAKER_00 24:44

So I'm gonna tell you just a quick bingo story because you're bringing up bingo way too much here, and it doesn't have anything to do with flowers. Well, maybe because when I was in Dixon at Flowers, etc., and all my kids were in Catholic schools, and that was the responsibility that twice a month you had to go to bingo, you had to work bingo, so you wow, you you had this room full of people, and one half of the room were smokers, and the other half were non-smokers, and then they had all their good luck charms in front of them, yes, because they took it very seriously. Oh my gosh, Lori, we were all like, oh my gosh, I have to do bingo, and so I have kind of this this mindset against bingo. So sorry, you can go play bingo.

SPEAKER_01 25:37

The smoker part would give I would I'd be out, I can handle it except for the smoke, because it would give me a migraine.

SPEAKER_00 25:45

Yeah, well, and it felt and they got to eat first, and then they bought the bingo cards and all that, but it was like a big ordeal. So I'm sorry, I just I can't do the bingo thing. I can't.

SPEAKER_01 25:56

That is hilarious. Well, one of our flower shops, one of our flower click members, he does he's a bingo click. Is that Steve? Yeah, Steve Ravala. He's big time. I would think he's probably really good at it. Yes, I'm sure he's always announcing it. So I bet they don't allow smoking anymore, though. I bet they don't either. So then better.

SPEAKER_00 26:19

You just don't want to move those good luck charms. I'm just telling you.

SPEAKER_01 26:23

No, I can see it for some reason, Vonda, and I'm not Catholic, but I have a memory of exactly what you're talking about. So I don't know as a child if I was in a bingo environment that you're talking about. I feel like I was somewhere with my grandma. Could be with a bunch of her friends because my grandma, although she was Baptist, participated in what they referred to as table games. Oh, you did not call them. Yes, they were not allowed to play bingo and cards, but they called them table games.

SPEAKER_00 27:12

Well, we had a lot of Baptists at our table game.

SPEAKER_01 27:15

Okay, that's just the saying. So that's what I'm saying. She too participated in your table game, but she did not smoke, she would not have been on the smoking side, right? Okay, my my my Aunt Moni would have been on the smoking side, but she didn't step foot in no church, but she would have been on the smoking side. Oh boy, did we get off track? Sorry about that. Well, you know, it is what it is, it's the pleasure, it's the pleasure of the business and pleasure of flowers. There we go.

SPEAKER_00 27:48

This this was all pleasure.

SPEAKER_01 27:49

This was all pleasure, it was flowers, a little bit of flowers.

SPEAKER_00 27:53

So are you gonna do it next year, Lori? I am, but I gotta get me some more flowers. We needed to have a count of the room before we ordered the flowers this year. Well, here's the thing.

SPEAKER_01 28:06

I asked my cousin because she she was like, holy smokes, we didn't know it was gonna be this many people, and she because she didn't think it would be that many either, but they knew I was coming, they knew I was coming, and I didn't even tell you this, it was once a month they have this three-man little gospel band showing. Oh, and it was the today, or it was last, it was that day.

SPEAKER_00 28:36

It was that day, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:39

Okay, and so it was flowers and singing and singing, and you know me, I was dancing as I was passing them out. I was doing music, and the women would clap for me. It was fun.

SPEAKER_00 28:53

I think we probably shouldn't wait for a whole nother year for you to do that.

SPEAKER_01 28:59

I told them if they ever need like I know next week one of their assistant cooks is gonna be off, and I went literally went to raise my hand until I'm like, oh shoot, I can't, because I gotta get ready. No, not next week, the next week. It's when I'm getting on a plane. It was like on the first, on November 1st. I was like, and then I'm like, oh shoot, I'm flying with Vonda somewhere.

unknown 29:24

I can't have them.

SPEAKER_01 29:28

I'm already getting myself in trouble, but anyway, but it was good, it was fun, and I'm very appreciative that the rest of my flower click team knew to speak my love language, knew it was better than any kind of monetary bonus I could have ever received.

SPEAKER_00 29:48

That's why we wanted to get on and hear the stories because they're just life-giving. They're just life-giving.

SPEAKER_01 29:54

They were, they were, and they were the most beautiful people. Ugh, just they were just beautiful and funny and quirky and grumpy. I mean, I told you about some of the grumpy ones. But I loved, I loved them all, loved them all, and very grateful. Thank you so much for listening to our podcast. We hope you enjoyed spending time with us because we enjoy spending time with you. If you did, make sure you hit that subscribe button or add the business and pleasure of flowers to your Google morning routine or your flash briefing on Alexa. We look forward to seeing you next week.

SPEAKER_00 30:37

So please come back and join us and discover how a bit of knowledge and one small change in your mindset can take you to new levels in your life and business.