The Times Herald. By Gary Puleo. January 28, 2021. gpuleo@21st-centurymedia.com

Flowers brighten isolation for many during pandemic

WORCESTER — It’s like having your own personal flower show any day of the year when The Flower Lady comes to visit.

Now in her eighth year of spreading joy through Gerbera Daisies, sunflowers, hydrangea, orchids and all manner of repurposed flowers to nursing homes, hospitals, shelters, police stations, firehouses, libraries, churches, food pantries and random people she encounters in her travels, Patricia Gallagher has no plans of slowing down.

However, she recently started a campaign to expand her Happy Flower Day Project legacy by sharing her knowledge and getting others involved.

“Now that I’m 69 and my daughter is expecting a new grandchild, I sort of want to pass the baton and let other people know how they can do this,” Gallagher said. “I just want to let other people know if they have some time on their hands or have a community group like the Girl Scouts or a church group, that they can contact event planners, funeral homes, and other places and ask them what they do with the flowers after the event, and tell them that you would like to pick the bouquets up and share them, taking them to nursing homes, shut-ins, anybody that needs something to brighten their day. The Girl Scouts could take them to a nursing home or take them and rearrange them in vases and give them to individuals that they know. There’s so many things they could do with these flowers. For example, last Friday I took the flowers to food pantries and Catholic social services.”

She doesn’t want potential volunteers to think they need to recreate her efforts on such a grand scale, noted Gallagher, who has been featured on NBC’s “Today.”

“I just want to let them know that it’s a project a scout troop might want to do once in a while or on a Saturday,” she said. “If I can pick up 65,000 ‘smiles’ and deliver them just on my own, other people can do it too. It’s really rewarding. It brightens up the day for people in nursing homes. Before the pandemic, when I was able to take the flowers inside, I would put them all in a cart and go up and down to all the rooms and I’d say to (the staff) why don’t you ask visitors and staff to put the vases they don’t need in a box and when I come with a hundred bouquets you can just fill the vases with water and the flowers and then put them on dining room tables, in the reception area, give one to every person, take them to the craft room and make wreaths out of them.”

What the former teacher has christened The Happy Flower Day Project began gaining steam when Gallagher, who now lives in Worcester, wandered into the Shiloh Missionary Baptist church in Norristown in December, 2013 and the church staff welcomed her stray flowers like they were part of a Christmas miracle.

“I said, would you be able to use some flowers and the lady said they were praying because they were planning on having a little party and they were wondering if they had enough money to decorate the church,” Gallagher recalled.

More impassioned by her mission than ever, Gallagher continued in her pursuit of rounding up flowers that were slightly beyond their prime from floral distributors, specialty grocery stores, funeral homes and event planners.

“They give me their unsold plants and flowers, things that are a day old or don’t quite meet their standards and they’re beautiful bouquets of every imaginable flower. Sometimes they’re even orchid plants,” said Gallagher, whose trusty little Kia bears the wear and tire of the nearly 200,000 miles she’s logged for the cause. “When I first started I had my mother Claire, who was 88, and another volunteer, Bob, from my church who was 91, and we’d stop for coffee and then pick the flowers up in the morning. My mother would say, ‘Well, God, where do you want these flowers to go today?’ We didn’t have an appointment anywhere but we’d take them to hospitals, hospices, nursing homes, and just go into the dining room and go around and give everybody a bouquet and a hug, and it really brightened their day. All those mornings my mother and Bob, and later, my neighbor Ella, who was 95, they all had a purpose and had something to do every morning that was rewarding, socializing and fun. When I had my dog Eddie I would take him along too. So, it’s gone through a lot of stages.”

One brief stage had her taking a short break last December during the pandemic.

“The scoop on free flowers during the pandemic … on a cold winter morning, delivering beautiful flowers, it is a guaranteed smile-maker for me, and for the recipients,” Gallagher noted after hitting the road again with nearly 200 bouquets in one day.

At last count, Gallagher had collected and delivered more than 65,000 bouquets over the years.

“A couple of days a week I’m in Norristown and I drop flowers off at the senior center, the laundromat, the Jefferson Apartments on Marshall Street, Rittenhouse Pine Nursing Home, just different places in Norristown,” she said.

As one happy retirement community recipient noted, “Patricia unloaded bag after bag of beautiful floral bouquets onto the cart and off we went to deliver them to everyone she met in the halls of the community. She doesn’t just give each person a bouquet, she often sings to them ‘Happy Flower Day.’ She gives everyone a big hug and thanks the employees for their dedication and the residents for just being who they are.”

Or another: “You didn’t just bring a bunch of flowers to us, you brought  a bunch of messages that somebody cares.”

Gallagher, whose nonprofit status is affiliated with Circle of Miracles, a non-denominational, interfaith spiritual community based in New Britain, had never done any fundraising to help with her expenses or even seriously kept track of her miles, but she recently noted that she traveled nearly 100 miles in one day.

“I’m not a woman of any means,” she said, laughing, “but I do it because I love it.”

Thanks to her daughter Kristen, Gallagher’s website, happyflowerday.org, has a “Support the Mission” link for those who wish to donate.

As Gallagher’s daughter noted on the site, her mother “has brightened the lives of many people, as she gives thousands of free bouquets of flowers (rescued from grocery stores) to those most in need of a pick-me-up. Just today, my mom told me about a woman  whose son just passed away from cancer.  After she gave her flowers, she said, ‘You have no idea what these flowers mean to me right now.’ Responses like this are what keep my mom going. She’s been funding this initiative out of her own pocket (car, gas, tolls, etc.)  We wanted to put together a plan for people to support her mission by becoming ‘Happy Flower Day’ supporters by making any contribution that you can. This support will mean so much to not only my mom, but to all of us. We know how much good this work has done, and would love to keep it going as long as possible. Again, your contribution would be to cover gas, tolls, etc. Every dollar helps.  Thank you for your support.”

Gallagher’s website, is also blooming with reminiscences, videos and helpful decorating ideas. She has now authored several beautifully illustrated books, including “The Happy Flower Day Project,” “Start Your Own Free and Fun Happy Flower Day Project in Your Community,” and the latest, “FAQs About Starting a Free Flower Sharing Project,” which answers such questions as “How do most people start a flower sharing project, as an individual or as a group?;” “Why do retail stores donate their extra flowers?”; “Where can I find volunteers to help me with a free flower sharing project?;” “How do you show appreciation and gratitude to the stores that fill your car with day-old flowers five days a week?” and “Patricia, why do you feel such a desire to drive 45 minutes to pick up flowers this morning?”

To the latter query, Gallagher responded, “I listened to the news — devastating fires in Australia, a Ukrainian airplane crash, refugees for their lives in Syria, unrest in Iran, polarizing politics in the U.S.A. … I cannot do anything to help people so far away. I am picking up my 95-year-old flower helper at 9 a.m. Ella and I will do our own little part to shine light and love in Philadelphia. Maybe we can sow seeds of positivity with free, fresh, fragrant flowers. Hope we can flower forward some heavenly peace to all we meet today.”