Flowers For Kids

Recently I have found myself giving thanks and expressing gratitude for the glorious gift of life. It is a feeling that seems to be spiritual and emanates from within my soul, although certainly kindled by a cold snap in the air and the refreshing aroma of Christmas greens.

Yet it was with melancholy that I observed this year’s flavor for lawn displays of Christmas cheer. Large inflatable Santas, Wooly-hatted Snoopys, pneumatic Polar Expresses, Charlie Browns in perpetually snowing inflatable paperweights that light up at night are to be seen in front of houses throughout my neighborhood. Occasionally a Nutcracker will appear like a solitary sentinel, but more often than not an entire congregation of air-filled plastic-coated Technicolor Christmas icons will crowd a front yard. Maybe it is just me, but these displays are more obscene than the inflatable dolls of yore.

These blow-up, just-add-water, instant motifs of Xmas only serve to underscore just how disposable these holidays have become. Thanksgiving is reduced to whirlwind trip through the supermarket, comprising foil baking tray, turkey, canned yams, canned cranberry, frozen veggies and bouquet of flowers. Christmas can be almost as expeditiously taken care of by a trip to Lowe’s or Home Depot: Tree (real and/or plastic), ornaments, lights, poinsettias and my personal favorite, the inflatable Sponge Bob Santa, can all be accomplished with the proverbial one-stop shop!

Where is this all leading? Can the spirit of gratitude and goodwill really be symbolized by inflatable icons? And if Christmas is going to become a blow-up holiday, what will happen to flowers as an expression of our feelings?

So it was quite serendipitous that on a recent trip to Quito, Ecuador, I would run into Ramiro Peñaherrera, who related to me a wonderful project he has started called “Flowers for Kids®”.

Ramiro Peñaherrera has been in the floral industry in Ecuador for about 18 years. Starting with 10 acres of Gyp, he has since grown the business into one of the largest suppliers of summer flowers in Ecuador.
During a trip to a family friend in York, England, in the summer of 2003 Ramiro had an experience that he relates as an epiphany and which led to the creation of a project that would eventually evolve into Flowers for Kids® (FFK).
Alighting from the train at York, he purchased a handsome bouquet of flowers from a well-stocked flower cart on one of the platforms for his host. Upon arrival at the home of his host and friend, he presented the flowers to her, whereupon she graciously thanked Ramiro for them, set the bouquet in the sink and then performed a series of maneuvers that made a profound impression on his psyche. From a kitchen draw she withdrew a pair of secateurs and then removed a package of flower food from a cupboard. She then took out a vase, filled it with water, stirred in some flower food and set it by the sink. The Lady of the house then removed the wrapper form the bouquet, proceeding to cut the stems underwater and then dropped the flowers into the vase. With a modicum of fuss, she gently moved a stem here and a bloom there, and placed them on the dining room table.
It occurred to Ramiro that he had never seen a consumer in the USA handle flowers in such an informed manner.
Ramiro’s charming host enjoined him to try a delightful Côtes-de-Rhône, thanked him again for the flowers and with glasses in hand proceeded into the conservatory to introduce him to the other guests at her home.

Back in the Washington DC, where Ramiro was living at the time, he replayed in his mind’s eye over and over again his friend’s ability to care for flowers. Ramiro’s livelihood depends on the sale of flowers, and during many years in the floral industry, he had seen numerous studies which demonstrated that the main reservation that American consumers have about flowers is that “they don’t last”. Clearly, if the American consumer could be as adept as his/her English counterpart in handling flowers this dilemma would be quickly resolved. Certainly a well-informed consumer would buy more flowers, as the magic of nature’s bounty continues to charm human beings, and therefore Ramiro’s company would be able to reap the financial rewards of increased floral sales.
But how to educate and inform the American consumer?
This conundrum preoccupied Ramiro for about one year, when in the summer of 2004 he concluded that if children could be introduced to flowers at a fairly early age, then they could possibly become customers for life. As a marketing strategy this is not new, and we are all witness to McDonald’s unapologetic pursuit of young patrons. However, while children could be introduced to flowers, there still remained the question of who was going to pay for them.
In the fall of 2004 Ramiro approached several schools in the DC area, and was granted permission to teach children between 8 and 12 years of age classes in flower care. For eight weeks the former flower grower created a new persona that was part Blues Clues host, part stand-up comedian, part florist and part clown in order to have an effective dialogue about flowers with young children. Ramiro found that the kids were tremendously stimulated by the different kinds of flowers, and were fully engaged in learning about the flowers and especially about taking care of them. However, if this was to be more than just an altruistic venture with a possible return on investment in about ten to fifteen years hence, Ramiro conceded that somehow the parents would have to be engaged.
This was a considerable problem, as most schools do not welcome parents into schools during regular hours, and furthermore it would be rather unseemly, even if parents were allowed into the classroom, to suggest that they purchase flowers.

When his stint in the inner city schools of DC concluded, Ramiro returned to the drawing board, armed with the knowledge that the response from the children was overwhelmingly positive, but needing a bridge that would stimulate interest and engender purchases from the parents of the children.
Over the winter Ramiro hit upon the strategy that would provide an avenue for the parents to interface with the florist, and therefore a way to stimulate flower sales immediately. It should be noted that as generous, altruistic and accommodating a person Ramiro Peñaherrera is, and not only does he want children to learn about flowers, for him it is extremely important to provoke significant growth in floral consumption in the near future.
With all the components of “Flowers for Kids®” now in place, Ramiro turned to the growers of cut flowers to secure funding and support for the initiative he was now promoting. He spent most of 2005 visiting growers in Ecuador, as well as importers and wholesalers in the USA, encouraging them to pledge funds to the program, as well as flowers for promotion. To date “Flowers for Kids®” has 52 Ecuadorian growers including farms such as Jumbo Roses, Denmar, Rosa Prima and Agrirose who have contributed to the initiative, as well as Sun Valley Group and Ocean View in California. A further 42 companies and floral corporations involved in importing, logistics, packaging and so forth have also contributed funds.
In 2006, Ramiro cautiously promoted the initiative and taught florists at six wholesalers and this year he visited 16 wholesalers throughout the USA teaching florists how to take the program to their local schools. Through November over 700 florists have been trained and the results are usually immediate and impressive. The goodwill and community standing is greatly improved by florists who can overcome stage-fright and nervousness and promote this program in their local schools. The program leaves everyone involved with a warm, fuzzy feeling as well as promoting flowers throughout the immediate community. And anything that stimulates flower consumption has to be a good thing!!

The FFK program works as follows:
• The Wholesaler invites “Flowers for Kids®” to their location. The event is promoted, and florists are invited to attend the workshop.
• FFK trains the florists in the workshop, providing every thing a florist will need to go into the school.
• The retail florist goes into the local schools and teaches a class basic flower care and bouquet making.
• All children in the class get to make their own 5 stem bouquets, which gets sleeved and labeled with an FFK sticker that displays each child’s name.
• Attached to the sleeve is a care and handling hand-out; flower food sachets; and most importantly, an invitation to the child to visit the flower shop and take the “Flowers for Kids®” quiz, if accompanied by an adult.
• Child accompanied by parent will receive two “focal” flowers as well as a “flower kid” diploma

The enthusiasm and knowledge demonstrated by the children to their parents encourages the parents to visit the florist, where there is a further opportunity to teach the parents about flowers and flower care. This is the key hurdle that Ramiro wanted to address ever since his floral epiphany in York, England.
But also just as important, the bridge between the classroom and the parents is established allowing the florist an opportunity to sell bouquets and arrangements, and further establish a wider “floral community”.

From my point of view the “Flowers for Kids®” is a form of capitalism at its very best. By employing this vehicle of education, our children learn about the natural gifts of nature and how to care for them, and hopefully an appreciation of flowers that will stay with them for life. This initiative is one of the most uplifting and nurturing ideas that I have come across in my long career in the floral industry. It sends a very positive message as well as targeting present and future consumers in a very precise way. “Flowers for Kids®” invites the participation of all segments of the industry for a very low cost, and with very low levels of brazen marketing. And in the end everyone learns to appreciate flowers, nature and the glory of giving.
Which after all, is what this season is all about.

Merry Christmas, everyone, and a Happy New year. There is plenty of room in this world for wonderful fresh flowers…and Spongebob Santa!

Some Notes

I would like to thank Ramiro Peñaherrera for graciously allowing me to interview him in his home in Quito, Ecuador. He is a fascinating character who has an insatiable drive and a love of life. He has often been accused of doing “Flowers for Kids®” for some ulterior profit motive, and for his greater glorification. The former is ridiculous although he is more the richer from teaching hundreds of children about flowers and witnessing their smiles; and the latter point is far from the mark, though it should be said that it takes a very gregarious and confident person to deliver this message.

“Flowers for Kids®” will be coming to California in 2008, so look out for the program at Mayesh locations in the New Year.

For amazing testimonials to the success that florists are having with this program, please visit the website: www.flowersandcents.org and follow the thread of “Flowers for Kids”.
You can also visit the FFK website at: www.flowersforkids.org

“Flowers for Kids®” is the registered trademark of Flowers for Kids, Inc. Pictures and their training materials and logo seen in this article are used with the express permission of Flowers for Kids Inc.

Flowers for Kids Foundation, based in California, is a separate entity and in no way is allied or related to “Flowers for Kids®” or Flowers for Kids Inc.

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