The more time you spend around any structure where care is being provided to those in pain or in need, the more apparent it becomes that kindness still grows wild and brilliant in this world. This idea takes tangible form at the Parkview Cancer Institute (PCI) where, since its opening, on multiple occasions, an anonymous donor has delivered an assortment of handmade bouquets.
“We never really know when she’s going to come in,” Fayth Haines, concierge services manager, Parkview Cancer Institute, said. “She won’t fill out a donation form and doesn’t want any form of acknowledgement or praise. She just wants to bless others. It’s such a moving display of humility and generosity.”
The donor’s motivation seems to stem from a connection to a friend who is currently battling the disease. “Her floral supplier was diagnosed with cancer and she knew how much he loved flowers, so she wanted to provide a gift.”
And so, periodically – at least four times so far this year – she arrives with as many as a dozen arrangements, pretty and perky in mason jars or soup cans. The blooms are often freshly plucked from her personal garden and mixed with petals from other places.
“She tells us to do with them as we like,” Fayth shared, “so we leave them on the concierge desk for an hour or so to allow everyone a chance to admire them. Then, when someone comments on how lovely they are, we invite them to take an arrangement home. It might be for a patient or a visitor – whoever needs a pick-me-up that day. We tell them the flowers were donated anonymously by someone who loves her garden, and that if they love them, we’d love to pass along the blessing.”
At PCI, generosity doesn’t just come in the form of blushing blossoms. “We have so many people use their gifts to bless others. We get things from people who knit, paint, crochet, quilt … you name it. There’s an indescribable beauty to people sharing their talents with such a pure intent and pure heart.”
These gestures suggest that the opportunities, both big and small, to offer love to others, perhaps when they need it most, are growing all around us all the time. We just need to wait for them to bloom, bend down, pick them up and pass them along.
