Memorial Day Flowers was initiated by Ramiro Peñaherrera of the Flowers for Kids organization in 2010 to honor those who have served and fallen in the United States Armed Forces. Flowers for Kids and the Delaware Valley Floral Group (DVFG) along with our strategic partners in Lynx-Global and Centurion Airlines have join together to provide a foundation to grow this event in 2012. With the help of the floral industry, local retail florists, and many volunteers this year we are reaching many locations across the United States.
As Memorial Day draws near we are busy organizing the details of each event of remembrance. I am very proud to say that we now have over eighty retail florists sponsoring over one hundred cemeteries across the country. The Flowers for Kids grower network and the California Cut Flower Commission will be providing more than one hundred and forty thousand stems of flowers to friends and neighbors for this great event. More importantly than any of the above, the flowers will go to the people that have suffered the ultimate loss in the name of freedom for our country. Arlington National Cemetery is the cornerstone location for Memorial Day Flowers 2012, where over one hundred volunteers will hand out more than one hundred thousand roses for visitors to place on headstones and take home in remembrance of their loved one. In addition to Arlington, retail florists will hand out roses at local cemeteries across the United States.
Each week I travel to different cities and hear people repeatedly people expressing how they, “want to go home” after a few days or a week of travel. The men and women that serve our country spend months, or years, away from loved ones, friends and family. Unfortunately, too many of them never return home to their families. Remembering them, their sacrifice, and recognizing those that have been left to carry on without them is the reason we will are joining together. We live in a day and time when war has become a three-minute time slot on the evening news each day and in many ways, I believe we have become desensitized to it. It happens in a far off place and on most days, it is treated as any other news story. I remember January of 1991 when the Gulf war started. For many in my generation this was the first time war was a real thing. I think it’s safe to say this was the first war the world could watch in real time on TV and it played out in front of us on CNN twenty-four hours a day for a few weeks. As days passed by, the coverage became less and less and now today it’s a blurb or a subset to a headline that few pay attention to. However, this does not change the fact that each day men and women venture out directly into harm’s way while there friends and families are at home distressed thinking of their safety waiting for the day they walk through the door and return home.
Flowers play many roles in everyday life and we in the floral industry often become caught up in the business of it all and forget these details. They can say, “I’m sorry” when a loved one is no longer with us or when we have done wrong, and as a man I have personal experience with this point. Flowers cover a range of statements or provide the final polish to a memorable event. Flowers are an extension of people’s emotions and I cannot think of a more significant role for flowers to play then the one that will unfold on Memorial Day, May 28,2012. When Ramiro approached me with this opportunity, “how can I help,” spontaneously emerged from my mouth. I have had the good fortune to be with a company that places a sincere effort toward being a part of the community and supporting meaningful programs and for me, this one tops this list.
With your support the Flowers for Kids Organization, Delaware Valley Floral Group and our network of donators and supporters, will show that we have not forgotten what our nation asks of some.
Sincerest regards,
Kevin Clifford
Ramiro Penaherrera
It will be an honor to participate in the program at Arlington National Cemetery wtih my daughter, Jessica by my side. We will place a rose on my father’s grave and many others who have valiantly served our country.
My staff and members of the Medford VFW will place 400 roses on gravesites in the Medford area.
Thank you for creating this program and providing the roses in remembrance of the men and women who have given the ultimate sacrifice to let freedom ring in our great nation.