SAF Petal It Forward 2023: Lori's Heartwarming Experience
For years, Lori watched Petal It Forward roll by every October with a serious case of FOMO. This year, her Flower Clique teammates surprised her in a staff meeting: it's your year — the bundles are already arranged. In this episode, Lori tells Vonda the full story of her first Petal It Forward, and why an hour and a half at a Houston senior center left her thinking about the people there every day since.
What Petal It Forward is
Started by the Society of American Florists, Petal It Forward hit its ninth year on October 18, 2023, with 580 floral businesses across all 50 states and six countries participating. The concept is simple: hand strangers two bouquets — one to keep, one to give to someone they love, a friend, or a stranger who needs it. Pure kindness, powered by flowers. SAF's website is loaded with stories, marketing ideas, and everything you need to plan your own.
Finding the right place to give
Lori's first hurdle was logistics — she works from home, with no street corner or storefront. Browsing SAF's site, she found shops that had partnered with nursing homes and food banks, and remembered her cousin works in a leadership role at a Houston food bank. Her cousin's response reframed the whole day: our food bank is well sponsored and well loved — what if we stepped outside our bubble into a community that doesn't get many visitors? Through her nutrition-class connections, they landed on a senior "friendship center" — not a residence, but a community center serving seniors a hot daily meal and activities. Lori recruited her son Reese as the bucket carrier, and off they went.
"The flower lady's here"
They arrived as lunch wrapped up and bingo was about to begin. Mid-announcements, the director spotted Lori in the back, said "the flower lady's here — come on up," and handed her the microphone. What followed was chaos of the best kind. Everyone wanted two bouquets — and everyone wanted Lori to sit down so they could tell her exactly who the second one was for: the caretaker, the driver, the daughter who takes them to doctor's appointments. People who care for them daily, whom they'd never before been able to give anything.
The stories kept coming. One woman wished she could afford flowers for her daughter's birthday — so her tablemates pooled their bouquets, and a scouting party liberated a used vase from the bingo prize tables. ("That's teamwork right there.") Henry kept working every angle for an extra bouquet — including the classic "somebody stole mine" — until Reese gave in. And to Lori's surprise, not one man turned down flowers; as one woman explained, "It's because they all have a bunch of girlfriends." Lori ran out of flowers fast, forgot every marketing instruction about phones and hashtags because she was too busy being present, and remembered photos only at the very end — a room full of seniors raising bouquets and shouting "Flower Clique!" with no idea what they were saying.
Why you should do this too
Vonda's point for shop owners: this is a small investment of money and time with an outsized payback. Lori blocked three hours and was home in ninety minutes. Around the country, Flower Clique members were everywhere on social media — Janet from McCandless in Pennsylvania made the news, Stewart Flower Shop in Stewart, Iowa ran out of flowers at a gas station by 7:40 a.m., and shops handed buckets of sunflowers to fire departments and passersby with give-one-away tags. Yes, you might gain a few customers. But mostly you'll watch flowers do what flowers do — bring joy to people who rarely receive them. And if October doesn't work, pick your own day.
A vote for the person you want to become
Driving home, Lori kept returning to James Clear's line from Atomic Habits: every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. It's easy to spend every day behind a computer, phone, and microphone — helping people, yes, but at a distance. Showing up in person, she says, is the reminder: this is who I want to be. She's already scheming a return — maybe centerpieces from a Flower Clique bundle for the center's Christmas or Valentine's party, maybe just an afternoon serving lunch or playing bingo (a pastime Vonda, scarred by twice-monthly smoke-filled Catholic school bingo duty in Dixon, will be sitting out). As Lori puts it, her team knew her love language: this beat any monetary bonus she could have received.
Key takeaways
- Petal It Forward is a low-cost, low-time, high-joy event — Lori's entire outing took ninety minutes.
- Partner with organizations that know your community — food banks, senior centers, fire departments — and consider going where visitors rarely do.
- Give two bouquets: one to keep, one to give away. Letting recipients become givers is where the magic happens.
- Be present first, market second — the connection is the point, and the stories will follow you home.
- Generosity is a habit: every act of service is a vote for the person and business you want to become.