When Jennifer Grove was an event planner, she saw how often the beautiful—and costly!—flowers people used to make their day joyous went to waste when their events were over. “I was looking at a sea of peonies, hydrangeas, and roses that had been enjoyed for a few hours and were headed for the trash,” Grove told O Magazine about what she witnessed in her former career back in 2012. She’d had enough of the heartbreak and vowed to leave the event-planning industry.
First, she started donating flowers her clients were no longer using to nursing homes. Then, she began composting them.
In 2014, when she realized what a service it was, Grove created the non-profit organization Repeat Roses. This pick-up and delivery service will remove your flowers after your event and bring them to those in need at nursing homes, hospitals, shelters and more. “We break them down into smaller [flower] arrangements,” she shared with CBS News. “This will brighten somebody’s day.”
“Especially with newlyweds,” Grove told Upworthy, “it’s the first charitable act that they’ve done [as a married couple] and they haven’t even left for their honeymoon.”
For Grove, the most satisfying part of her service is how it makes those in need feel when they get their flowers. “You feel the sadness, you feel the heaviness in the air, and there’s just something about bringing flowers that completely transforms the atmosphere. Flowers have the ability to do that.”
Through Repeat Roses, Grove believes she’s making a lasting contribution, not only to the planet, by recycling flowers and reducing waste, but also to people’s spirits.
“When you recognize how much pain people are in, whether it’s mental, emotional or physical, and you can do one nice thing to help them, it means something,” Grove said.
Yolanda Banks, the mother of 8-year-old Ayana Banks, can attest to the spirit-lifting service Repeat Roses provides. Ayana is a stage 4 cancer patient at Ronald McDonald House in New York and received a beautiful arrangement from Repeat Roses. “There’s nothing else we can do but be here,” Banks told NBC News. The flowers, the mom says, make things a little easier.
Watch Grove’s viral video about Repeat Roses on Upworthy.
