When three of Lindsey Curry’s four grandparents were living in long term care homes, she felt that their locations and others could use something a little extra, something special to brighten the residents’ days.

At the same time, she noticed that her family members who work in the wedding industry had a recurring issue.

“Nobody knows what to do with their flowers, (couples) always have excess flowers and you hate to throw them away, but you can only give so many away to family, so half or more end up going in the trash,” Curry said.

She put the two together. If the flowers went straight from weddings to care facilities, it could have the potential to spread joy longer by re-purposing floral arrangements. Curry founded Grateful Vase in February and launched it on June 10th, her grandparents’ wedding anniversary. The 501c3 nonprofit organization calls Missouri home, but it serves Northwest Arkansas just as much, if not more than Springfield area.

On Saturday, Dec. 14, Grateful Vase is throwing a Christmas party fundraiser at The Garden Room in Fayetteville. Beginning at 6 p.m., guests can enjoy Christmas music with a DJ, dancing, hot cocoa and bite-sized snacks. A children’s activity station will include a place to write letters to Santa and do some coloring. All entry fees come with two prize tickets, too.

“I just thought this (nonprofit) would be a great way to make the florals reusable and cut down on floral waste and also … it’s a much needed way to brighten someone’s day,” Curry said. “It’s a small gesture but it goes a long way and it really does impact the residents, the patients in a bigger way than any of us can ever imagine.”

HOW TO GO ABOUT IT

Grateful Vase has received great support in its first six months, Curry said, and delivered to more than 30 different facilities so far.

“We’ve been making big connections and we just hope to keep growing and building our volunteer groups,” she said. “It’s been really fun and a great way to get out in the community and try to bring some positivity by simple acts.”

Prospective brides and grooms can go to Grateful Vase’s Instagram link in bio or their website to fill out a flower pickup request form, which lists all the details of the event. Curry said it’s not limited to just weddings.

“We do corporate events too and baby showers,” she said.

Regardless of event type, the process is the same. Tell Grateful Vase details of the event, what time you’d like volunteers to pick them up, how many arrangements there are, and then Curry will check her calendar and her team to see if they’re available. The nonprofit confirms within 24 hours, and the service is free.

An added perk is that flowers donated are tax deductible based on the value of the arrangements when they’re picked up by the nonprofit. It’s a win-win, Curry said. Free clean up and a tax deduction for whoever purchased the flowers.

Due to the organization being new and the volunteer crew being fairly small, Grateful Vase is limited to accommodating one event pickup per weekend, and they are already booked for a dozen Northwest Arkansas weddings in 2025.

“We hope as we grow and build more awareness we can do more and more in one given weekend,” she said.

Volunteers pick up flowers as soon as the event is over or the next morning if the venue allows. To repurpose the arrangements, Curry said, they re-vase the flowers, freshen them up and deliver them the next morning to a facility within the same community they were donated from.

Those places include nursing homes, assisted living facilities, Alzheimer’s special units and mental care. The nonprofit also served the Walmart LPGA Championship in late September.

“We picked up 100 vase flower arrangements in a box truck and were able to deliver to three different facilities in Rogers within a five mile radius,” Curry said. “Each facility got 30 arrangements, so that’s great!”

At this point, Grateful Vase has done more deliveries in Northwest Arkansas than they have in Springfield by about 50%. Its volunteer team is only about a dozen people, six of whom are the core, active members. They don’t have a brick and mortar location in Northwest Arkansas yet, but it’s top priority, an upcoming goal for the new year.

“Once we get that in place, we’ll be able to hold more volunteer workshops and a lot more volunteer opportunities,” Curry said. In workshops, volunteers learn the whole process from picking up arrangements to the particular routines of refreshing the florals, as well as the etiquette of visiting care facilities.

Curry hopes to conduct a volunteer workshop in 2025.

SPREADING JOY

Lindsey Curry calls the facility on the morning of the delivery and each time, the response is the same.

“’Absolutely, we’ll take them!’” she always hears. “When I get there, it’s almost an overwhelm when they see a car full of beautiful arrangements. All of the seniors in the facility are oohing and ahhing and want to go look at them and smell them.”

One benefit she didn’t anticipate is that it lifts the spirits of the facility’s staff members, too.

“When I was doing this, I was thinking of the residents, that was my main focus, ‘It’s going to brighten their quality of life’ and what has surprised me is how much it’s affected the staff,” she said. “It really brought the morale up for the staff … that someone thought of them and their patients.”

Curry said it’s been an uplifting practice to do these deliveries, and also a healing one, for some of the volunteers who have had family in similar homes, since it makes them feel like they’re giving back to their own loved ones.

Recently Grateful Vase contributed gift bags to caregivers during an event at the Schmieding Center for Senior Health and Education in Springdale. Curry connected with the center since they serve the same audience and hopes to pair with other senior serving foundations and charities in Northwest Arkansas to do more fun things.

“We want to try to make the reach all across,” the region, she said.

TIME TO PARTY!

A floral Christmas tree exhibit will be featured at the Christmas Party Fundraiser, and each one will be designed by a local florist. In Bloom floral company of Springdale is doing one, and has been collecting ornaments for the event’s ornament giving wall. Guests can purchase one, and the donation goes to Grateful Vase.

Expect prizes to be awarded all night long. “That’s a fun aspect of the night,” she said. “It’s just going to be a fun, festive Christmas party fundraiser, with lots of good, fun giveaways.”

Curry is looking forward to connecting with the people of Northwest Arkansas, some who she has worked with extensively over the phone or email but not gotten to meet in person yet.

“We’re just celebrating what we’ve accomplished so far and the future of 2025,” Curry said. “We have big hopes and want this to keep growing and meeting new people and bringing everybody together.”