Flowers Afters Hours Flourishes at RAF Chicago
After seeing much success in fellow RAF branches, RAF Chicago has offered more regular after-hours floral arranging events, which we call Flowers After Hours. These public events are modeled after BYOB paint classes and geared to provide a fun, unique, and meaningful opportunity for community members who may not be able to otherwise volunteer with us.
In October, we hosted BOO-quets, a spooktacular arranging class with costumes and fall-themed arrangements in pumpkins that were delivered to patients at Shriner Children’s Hospital and residents of St. Mary of Providence, a home for women with developmental disabilities.
In November, we hosted Vases for Vets, a family-friendly Saturday event where guests created red, white, and blue arrangements that included flags and special Veterans Day delivery cards with notes to thank our service men and women. Bouquets were delivered to all three area VA hospitals.
Finally, on December 12th, RAF will kick Flowers After Hours up a notch further, providing a catered and more formal Holiday Centerpiece class. Guests will follow along with award-winning designer, Andy Zimmerman of Kiko’s Flowers in Park Ridge. Additional holiday-themed bouquets will be created for patients in hospice care. In fact, RAF is dedicating all deliveries during the month of December to hospice patients.
One of our regular attendees says “I have a completely unsustainable goal of bringing more people each time. I got six friends to go on Halloween and so far for Holidays I have six saying they can go – and I have a few more weeks to rustle up some more! It’s not hard to convince people to come because everyone has so much fun at these! Thanks for continuing to host them on a regular basis.”
These special events are led by RAF volunteers and supported by in-kind donations and industry partners, such as Goebbert’s Farms in Barrington (for our BOO-quets pumpkins), Galleria Farms in Miami (for our blue Veterans Day hydrangeas), and Kiko’s Florist in Park Ridge (for our Holiday Centerpiece materials and instruction).
We look forward to continued offerings in 2019, including Galentine’s Day in February; and, of course, our third annual Mums and Mimosas around Mother’s Day.
If you are interested in hosting a private event at RAF, we do that, too! Learn more about hosting your next party, private, or corporate event at RAF to experience firsthand the profound impact of our mission in the community.