flower blog

It's such a good feeling to give! That's something our florists know well from their involvement in our nationwide Make Someone Smile Week, which started in 2000.

In Cincinnati, unit president Michael Brown AIFD, of Nina's Florist ninasflorist.com, participated for the first time. Michael and his team delivered about 100 bouquets between two facilities: Mercy Franciscan at West Park in Cincinnati and Sterling House Senior Living in Springdale.

Turns out that one of the residents at Mercy Franciscan, Julia Arts, just happens to be the mother of another flower fan, Donna Nelson, manager of industry relations at Teleflora in Los Angeles.


Florist Michael Brown shares a smile with Julia Arts, who turns 87 this Sunday. Julia's daughter, Donna, works for Teleflora in Los Angeles. This was Michael's first time participating in Make Someone Smile Week.

Julia will be 87 this Sunday, Aug. 2. Says her daughter Donna: "She called me within the hour after receiving her flowers and was so delighted that she was part of the big project that her daughter was so involved with. She commented on the very nice young man that delivered them to her and couldn’t say enough about how wonderful it was that he had chosen West Park!"

People were smiling all across the country last week thanks to Teleflora florists and the terrific volunteers who take part in Make Someone Smile Week, a program to give Be Happy bouquets to those in need of a day-brightener.

In LA, florists and TF employees assembled bouquets on Sunday and delivered them on Tuesday to the Veteran’s Hospital in West Los Angeles.

About 20 florists took part, with Liz Seiji, owner of Edelweiss Flower Boutique in Santa Monica, edelweissflower.com leading the effort. Local wholesalers donated enough flowers for 250 bouquets. Volunteers from groups like the Elks, American Legion and Freemasons also came out to lend a hand. It's a great way for one vet to support another.

For Liz and her team, the project lets the patients know that people are thinking of them and appreciate the sacrifices they've made. The fact that so many are men makes it more of a surprise.

My colleagues from the communications department helped out as well and we managed to snap a few shots in between making our rounds.


A volunteer pushes a cart full of flowers for
patients at the VA Hospital in West LA.


A patient receives TF's Be Happy bouquet and a balloon.

For many of us at Teleflora, this is our favorite week of the year and one of the busiest. That's because florists across the country are making surprise deliveries to people in need of cheering up – in nursing homes, pediatric wards, VA facilities, treatment centers or shelters.

Teleflora donates its keepsake Be Happy® Mugs, wholesalers and growers donate the flowers, and florists donate their time.

Now in its ninth year, florists love the program because it gives them a chance to give back to their communities.

Last year, they delivered 35,000 Be Happy arrangements in 144 cities throughout the United States and Canada.

If you know someone who needs a day brightener, Be Happy bouquets are available on teleflora.com for $46.95.

Here are pictures of assembling the flowers at TF HQ in Los Angeles and some of the people who stopped by to pick up free bouquets.

There's only one winner in Flower Blog's monthly bouquet sweepstakes but for Los Angelenos there's an opportunity this Sunday for 100 people to walk away with a free bouqet. Just stop by Teleflora's HQ on the west side of LA, where we'll be assembling bouquets for our upcoming program, Make Someone Smile Week (July 19-26).

Stop by between 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. and you'll receive the program's signature Be Happy Mug. Last year, our hard-working florists gave away thousands to recipients nationwide. This is the first year we've offered pre-event freebies. Our address is: Teleflora Plaza, 11444 W. Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90064 (nearest intersection is Olympic and Sawtelle). 

See you then!

Celebrate summer by entering Flower Blog's monthly bouquet sweepstakes. Make a comment on any post this month and you'll be automatically entered. The winner for July will be picked in early August. To see the official rules, visit http://www.teleflora.com/FLOWERBLOG/post/Feeling-lucky-Here's-your-chance-to-win-free-flowers!.aspx.    

Good luck!