Non-profit that brought beauty, joy to hospice patients closes its doors

A longtime non-profit organization whose mission was to bring a little joy and beauty to hospice patients and senior citizens has closed its doors, but it leaves behind a lasting legacy. It has been said flowers are sunshine and medicine for the soul. For 12 years, that was the mantra of volunteers for The Petal Connection, who collected donated flowers from local businesses and created lovely bouquets – a little sunshine in a bottle – for people who needed them most. The special floral deliveries were made to hospice patients and senior citizens throughout the region, in Auburn, Folsom, Lincoln, Roseville and Rocklin. During the time The Petal Connection was in existence, volunteers delivered almost 130,000 bouquets, bringing brightness to people whose outlook could often be bleak. Founder Jennifer Arey started the organization with a simple idea and initially used space inside her garage to bring the idea to life. According to longtime The Petal Connection volunteer Ellen Yoder, the idea came to Arey when her grandmother was in a home on hospice, and she witnessed how grim that environment could be. Arey realized how much a bouquet of flowers could not only brighten the environment but the mood of the people receiving them. "So she started with the hospice that her grandmother was at, and word got out," explained Yoder. "They found more hospice organizations and pretty soon people were calling us to say hey, how do I get on the list? Because this is fantastic. I want to bring flowers to my hospice patients, too!" The idea caught on like wildfire. What began as a charming idea with Arey and a handful of friends running the organization out of her garage eventually grew into an enthusiastic army of hundreds of volunteers, and a sprawling list of hospice organizations eager to get on their schedule to receive donated bouquets. Soon, The Petal Connection needed a bigger space, so they rented a spot in Granite Bay, and later in Folsom. "We got all kinds of thank yous and emails and texts, and it wasn't just from the patients themselves; sometimes, it was from caregivers and also the families," said Yoder. "And it didn't cost anything. This is something someone did out of the goodness of their heart, and it would touch the family of the hospice patient also." It was not hard to find businesses that wanted to donate flowers: Trader Joe's, Nugget, Raleys, Whole Foods and other local flower farms were more than happy to donate flowers to the cause. "Oh my gosh, the number of flowers they donated to us was just astounding," said Yoder. "And so generous of them." In fact, volunteers soon discovered they had to get creative: They could only collect so many glass vases so eventually they began repurposing food cans to hold the bouquets. Yoder explained that someone would smooth off the can's edges so they were safe, clean them and then wrap them with fabric to make them decorative. "We had to volume up!" explained Yoder. There were times when the organization had leftover flowers after their scheduled bouquet deliveries to hospices, so volunteers brought those bouquets to various senior centers in the region. Yoder recalls the people in the senior centers could not contain their glee. "They see you coming and they say, 'Oh! Flowers! We got flowers!' " Yoder said with a smile. While The Petal Connection made a lasting impact in the community, Arey has decided to retire; running the organization was almost a full-time job. Unfortunately, due to the costs of running an organization, even a non-profit, they couldn't find someone who was able to keep it going. So, The Petal Connection closed its doors the last week of October, but Yoder said the legacy founder Arey leaves behind will not be forgotten. "What a vision she had and how generous she was with her time," said Yoder. "Everybody is sad, everybody has made friends. The regular volunteers, we've become friends with each other so we are all going to miss each other." Yoder said while The Petal Connection is no more, the number of people the organization touched in its 12 years is significant; and as a volunteer, the experience leaves a lasting lesson about life and the importance of simple kindness ... like a flower. "It just takes the smallest act of kindness to change somebody's day or outlook," said Yoder. "You don't have to do something supersonic or super incredible to make somebody happy or to cheer somebody up. It can be the simplest little gesture."