Random Acts of Flowers: Delivering Hope to Those Who Need It Most

Steffani Zavala’s first day at Random Acts of Flowers in 2019

In July 2007, Larsen Jay was in a near-fatal accident, which caused him to spend significant time in the hospital to recover. Jay attributed his successful recovery to family and friends who visited him and the dozens of flowers and cards he received while there. Once Jay was able to leave his hospital room, he realized that many of his fellow patients received no visitors or flowers. The first Random Acts of Flowers was born out of a desire to give people both. Jay actually gifted one of his own floral arrangements to another patient, delivering it to him from his wheelchair.

With three locations, Random Acts of Flowers is now expanding its kindness endeavor through its affiliate program. The dream is to branch out all over the country so that everyone can experience the healing power of a kind gesture.

SevenPonds had the privilege to sit down with Steffani Zavala, the Director of Affiliate Programs at Random Acts of Flowers, to discuss the company’s mission.

Editor’s Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

Steffani at the Knoxville location

For readers who may have never heard of your organization, how would you explain Random Acts of Flowers?

I was just talking with a new affiliate team that we’re working with, and I asked them: what would their two-minute spiel about Random Acts of Flowers entail? We touch so many people’s lives. We have provider partners, who give us the beautiful flowers that we upcycle into gifts. Then we have recipient partners who are the care centers we visit and where we spread kindness through the floral arrangements. We also have many volunteers who are not only part of the creation of the arrangements, but they also get to deliver the flowers to patients. Finally, the flowers we receive that we cannot use are repurposed into compost for local farms. We get to touch so many aspects of the communities that we’re a part of.

Could you tell me more about your provider partners and how people donate flowers to your organization?

We get connected in various ways to people and businesses that wish to donate flowers. We receive leftover flowers from memorial services, weddings and other events. At times, it is the people who created the event themselves who contact us, wishing to donate. Other times, it’s the event center who wants to give us the flowers when the event is over. People don’t enjoy having to throw away such beautiful arrangements at the end.

We also receive calls from local florists who are providing the flowers for a big event. They may use their own vases and intend to collect them at the end of the event, so they call to let us know there will be a lot of flowers available for collection.

Our biggest donation of flowers actually comes from grocery stores and wholesale florists. Once these bouquets and arrangements pass a certain date, they are no longer allowed to be sold. However, the flowers may still be beautiful and have a lot of life left. Yet they will go straight to the dumpster. A lot of these businesses don’t have connections with composting sites. Since I’ve worked for Random Acts of Flowers in various roles over the years, I’ve actually seen dumpsters filled to the brim with lovely flowers, and it’s so sad.

Steffani on a flower pick-up

How does your company seek to “be green” in this age of recycling and repurposing?

Being green is what Random Acts of Flowers is all about. We are committed to giving companies a way to let go of their bouquets and arrangements they couldn’t sell so they don’t end up in a landfill.

One job of our volunteers is to sort through all of our donations. Should we find flowers that don’t meet our standards and are truly past their prime, we work with local compost sites to get those stems there instead of throwing them in the trash. The flowers that still have life to give are then passed to our volunteers who begin arranging them in glass vases, which will be distributed soon after they are made.

We have many donors who contribute to the purchase of vases, and whenever we can, we return to our recipient locations to retrieve the vases after they’ve been used. We work with the custodians of each location since we don’t want to create extra work for them. The custodians put the vases in one location, and we return to collect them a few days later. Our volunteers wash them, and they’re ready to go for the next round of flowers. It’s our desire to have Random Acts of Flowers generate very minimal waste. We have a cycle of repurposing that repeats over and over again. The partnership of sustainability with random acts of kindness is what makes our organization so helpful to communities.

How do you choose where to make your deliveries?

We plan ahead with each facility that we’re visiting because we want to visit and give flowers to every single patient there. The last thing we want someone to say is, “I didn’t get flowers, but I saw someone in the room next to me did.” We schedule our visit ahead of time so that we know how many beds and patients they anticipate for our date.

We visit retirement homes, senior living facilities, veteran centers, hospitals, outpatient centers like those for patients undergoing dialysis, cancer centers, etc. We often have extra bouquets, just in case, that we may gift to the staff or place at the front desk of the wing or nurse’s station. We love to brighten anyone’s day with flowers.

Every now and then, we’ll have a surplus of flowers, enough to make an unplanned delivery. We’ll still call ahead to one of our recipient partners to make sure we have enough for their site that day. We will always make sure that everyone receives this beautiful act of kindness. We never want anyone to feel left out or hurt.

We track our deliveries weekly. The number of deliveries depends on our site. For example, in Knoxville, which is our original site, they do about 150-200 deliveries a week.

Steffani with the founder, Larsen Jay

Could you tell me about the various roles you’ve filled at Random Acts of Flowers?

When I was first hired in 2019, I worked at our location in Chicago, which we no longer have. The area was just too large to service correctly with only one workshop. However, when I came on, it was a period of transition, so I was the only employee. I did everything — including grant writing, directing the volunteer workshop, coordinating the flower pick-ups, and making deliveries. We have these carts that the vases are arranged on, which are then strapped into the work van. So I would drive around to one of our care centers with the vases clinking the back.

What are some unforgettable moments that you’ve experienced with this organization?

Of course, being part of the delivery process is the most meaningful part of the job. The stories I was privileged to hear when I shared our flowers with patients — those are the moments I hold dear.

Every single delivery is unique and special. We arrive and tell the patients who we are and what we have for them. We tell them that we’re thinking of them and ask if they’d like us to place the flowers anywhere in particular. Then we quietly leave the room unless they’d like to chat or enjoy a visit. Most of the time, people are completely shocked because they are not expecting a visit or gift. Sometimes, people cry. Others just cannot get over their shock.

During one delivery, I had finished giving away my vases and was waiting on some volunteers. I was able to sit with a woman for about 20 minutes. She shared how she was looking forward to taking one final trip with her sister. They had plans to go to France. She already had the tickets, but she needed medical clearance to be able to go. She was afraid that the doctors would not let her go, so she was quite emotional as she told me about it. She always wanted to go to Paris, and now that she finally had plans to go, she didn’t think she’d be able to make it. She told me that even if she didn’t get to go to Paris, she could look at the flowers we’d given her and pretend she was in France, looking out at a beautiful field of flowers. She decided to set her mind on that thought that afternoon.

It still gives me chills to think about how one little delivery could make someone think of so many things. For some, it makes them nostalgic; for others, it makes them reflective. It helps them to see the beauty and kindness in the world. The healing power of flowers is really incredible.

Another memory that I just thought of, and I’m so glad to relive this moment, is when I coincidentally had spoken to a dear friend earlier in the day and realized we’d later be going to deliver flowers to the retirement community where her grandmother was staying in the memory care ward. My friend thought her grandmother was going to pass away that week, so this was a very emotional visit.

I let her grandmother choose which arrangement she’d like from the cart, and she chose a lovely vase of purple flowers. She was overwhelmed, saying flowers were very special because her deceased husband used to buy her flowers all of the time. She always looked forward to seeing what type of flowers he would choose for her. She thought she would see him again soon. She reflected on the end of her life, and what could be in store for her next. I was reminded how our beautiful displays could help a person think of meaningful moments in their past. My friend’s grandmother was so happy to revisit memories, and she shared so many stories with us that day. The volunteer with me was choking back tears right along with me as we sat with her that day. We’re so privileged to be a part of someone’s day and hold their testimonials.

What are your hopes for the Affiliate Program?

We have three brick and mortar sites right now: Indianapolis, Indiana; Knoxville, Tennessee; and Tampa Bay, Florida. We are working with a new affiliate site in Ashville, North Carolina. They’re brand new and are in the fundraising stage right now.

Our Affiliate Program walks prospective sites through the process with a kit that tells them what stage they should be at as they prepare to come on board with Random Acts of Flowers. We want to partner with entrepreneurial people who are already active in their community and who will be able to raise the funds needed for a brick and mortar site and vans, as well as keep up the facilities on a monthly basis. These people are passionate about changing the world through kindness and hope.

We receive so many inquiries regarding bringing our organization to different parts of the country. Our Affiliate Program invites communities to take the initiative and create their own place for Random Acts of Flowers to be run by someone who’s already local and has connections.

We’ve also had request from six different countries to begin a Random Acts of Flowers in their nations. It’s certainly our dream for there to be a site wherever people need hope, and that’s everywhere. You can find out more about the Affiliate Program at Random Acts of Flowers here.

Watch a video of Random Acts of Flowers in Knoxville below: