For Emily Coulter, owner of Morrice Florist, when her children witnessed the aftermath of a bombing in the Middle East, seeing their fear and terror, she realized that people needed to be reminded of all the good in the world. Sometimes the media is so focused on the negative stories, that good can be forgotten.
The Kindness Project
Emily and her team are surrounded by beauty, working with flowers, being a part of that special world daily. For many people, flowers are a luxury item, something for a special occasion. She came up with the idea to spread beauty, spread random acts of kindness.
How would Morrice Florist do this? Well, with flowers of course. Emily and her team decided mid-summer to give a rose to people who would give the flower to someone. It could be anyone, a complete stranger, your favorite grocery store bagger, a friend that you just wanted to make smile.
Originally, the rose taker would write the name of the flower recipient on a sheet a paper, documenting the act of kindness. However, many people didn’t know at the time who the flower would go to. So, instead, they began writing their own names, showing their participation in The Kindness Project.
It caught on. So many people came into the store to participate, and a lot of joy was spread through the generosity of Morrice Florist and the kindness of patrons.
Emily heard many stories of surprise and happiness about the flowers that were shared. It was moving to know that there was such an impact made through the gift of a single flower. It shows you how easy it can be to spread kindness.
Something was started with The Kindness Project. Though unable to give away free flowers forever, Emily has come up with a solution to keep the project going.
Spreading Kindness
Businesses have the opportunity to sponsor a bucket of roses. So far, MV Insurance has purchased a bucket, and even people are sponsoring flowers, including Kimberly Cartwright and Polly Simpkins. Buckets range from $50 – $100. These flowers are purchased at cost, so there is no profit here, just a sprinkle of good in the world.
The goal is to keep The Kindness Project going. Emily would love to have a bucket sponsored every day, every week, every month — whatever people can do. The Kindness Project is so easy to participate in and makes it possible to spread a little happiness, one flower at a time.
Something that’s new with The Kindness Project is that the bucket of flowers is placed in random areas that have foot traffic. One has gone to the Vineyard Haven post office –imagine how those flowers affected people. There are usually a lot of cranky people there, and I bet there were a lot of people who actually left the post office happy for a change.
You can call Morrice Florist to and sponsor a bucket of flowers today, (508) 693-0392.
The positive energy at this flower shop is palpable. This dedicated team of flower artists have created such a pleasant work environment that is also surround by beauty, flowers, local artists, table wear, gifts, cards and more.
When I left, I had the song from the movie Mannequin was in my head, Starship’s Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now. Specifically, “The world will be a better place with you and me,” so cheesy right, but the whole story put me in a good mood.
To help The Kindness Project, the Martha’s Vineyard Chamber of Commerce is teaming up with Morrice Florist to challenge other Island businesses to initiate their own ways to spread kindness on Martha’s Vineyard. I’m looking forward to seeing what great things come from this. We can really use a little more TLC with the winter months upon us.
What can you do to spread kindness?
You can learn more about Morrice Florist on Facebook, including upcoming events. And don’t forget to “Like” us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter, Linked In, Google+, Pinterest and Youtube.