“Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadows. It’s what the sunflowers do.” - Helen Keller Knoxville grower John Benzinger has been cultivating the local soil for more than fifty years. In that time, he ran a tobacco farm and a dairy farm followed by a sunflower nursery. He got into [...]
10 Fun Flower Facts for National Poinsettia Day The poinsettia's association with Christmas comes from a Mexican legend. The story goes that a child, with no means for a gift, gathered humble weeds from the side of the road to place at the church alter on Christmas Eve. As the congregation watched, the weeds turned [...]
"We send you these flowers from our hearts" A Hurricane Irma Wedding Story Justin Murphy and his new bride, Katherine, had planned a glorious celebration of their love and life together, but Hurricane Irma had other plans for their oceanside wedding day. Read about how the couple's resilience, love, and generosity touched hundreds of lives [...]
The Impact of a Fall: Reflecting on a Decade's Ripple Effect Larsen Jay soon after his 2007 accident. Ten years ago today, I fell. I fell from a roof onto the hard concrete below. Ten years ago, the impact of that fall affected my body - breaking numerous bones that, along with my [...]
Meet RAF's Queen of Green, Sarah Cronan Headshot by Crystal Martin This week, Random Acts of Flowers' National Director of Finance and Administration Sarah Cronan, is more than 1,000 miles away from our National Headquarters, attending the 2017 Perennial Plant Association Symposium in Denver, Colorado. Because - while Sarah is the Queen [...]
The Longest Day: Celebrating Lives Well Lived Today, many of us will celebrate the longest day of the year – the summer solstice – by spending time outside with our friends and family, soaking up the sun, and reveling in the fact that we've made it another year around the sun while twilight slowly settles [...]
Tuesdays with Flowers: Making Memories Blossom with Random Acts of Flowers Describing Stephanie Mataya as a caregiver feels like a vast understatement once you get to know her. A full-time speech pathologist, wife, mom, stepmom, and dog/cat/lizard mom, Stephanie spends her time bettering the lives of the people (and animals) who surround her and nurturing a [...]
Spring 2017 Knoxville Newsletter
"Sometimes, people need a friend to talk to more than anything else." Larsen Jay, Random Acts of Flowers founder and trauma survivor, knows the value of a listening ear and shoulder to lean on more than most, and this has motivated him to be one of the founders and an active member of the University of [...]