Homeless people in OKC are creating beautiful bouquets ready for Mother’s Day with help from business-savvy students.
The Curbside Chronicle was chosen by eighth-grade students from Westminster School as the recipient of its class fund, built with proceeds from curricular experiences such as businesses they started in seventh grade.
With design guidance from the students and The Plant Shoppe, vendors who are homeless or at risk of homelessness are making and selling flower bouquets. They can be found in various spots throughout the city next weekend, or you can pre-order online until May 4. The Curbside Chronicle will also have three pop-up booths selling the blooms in The Plaza District’s DNA Galleries, Stella Nova Coffee on N Western and downtown’s Leadership Square on N Robinson.
The Curbside Chronicle organized a similar sale for Valentine’s Day, which saw 1,604 bouquets sold – providing more than 30 vendors employment opportunities assembling and selling the bouquets.
“After Valentine’s Day, we got a lot of positive feedback from the community and folks who wanted us to offer flowers during other times of year,” says Ranya Forgotson, program director of The Curbside Chronicle – a Homeless Alliance program. “When the students at Westminster reached out, we were thankful to be given the opportunity to grow the campaign.”
All proceeds from bouquets bought from Curbside vendors will go directly to that individual who is working his or her way out of homelessness.
“As part of our Community Service Learning program at Westminster, our eighth-grade class has learned a lot about poverty and homelessness – especially in Oklahoma,” says student Sarah Cate. “Partnering with The Curbside Chronicle on the Mother’s Day flowers program has really allowed us to apply what we’ve learned to help our community and people in need. Through our partnership, we’ve been able to help design the bouquets, determine a new location for where the flowers would be sold and even work to create a radio ad to help promote sales.”
Flowers can be pre-ordered at CurbsideFlowers.org and picked up at one of their pop-up booths listed above.
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