Beauty as Collective Healing

Provides a flower breakdown service for weddings and special events, collecting unsold or used flowers, refurbishing them into smaller arrangements, and redistributing them to community partners such as senior centers, nursing homes, food pantries, and services for immigrants and refugees.

Composts leftover blooms and organic waste generated during flower arranging activities, supporting environmental sustainability as part of its operations.

Provides financial grants to public charities as part of its grantmaking activities, supporting other nonprofit organizations in their missions.

Organizes hands-on floral arranging workshops for corporate employee groups of 10 to 35 participants, resulting in the creation of hundreds of floral arrangements delivered to community partners. Events such as those with NBA Cares and TPG engage teams in service while directly supporting distribution goals.

Hosts regular flower upcycling workshops at three Brooklyn sites—Christ Church Cobble Hill, Plymouth Church in Brooklyn Heights, and YWCA Brooklyn in Boerum Hill—where volunteers create floral arrangements for community distribution. These weekly programs form the operational backbone of the organization’s distribution efforts.

Offers hands-on flower arranging and social-emotional learning workshops to approximately 250 students across more than five New York City public and private schools via its Agents of Change program, fostering youth engagement and community connection through floral arts.

Distributes over 1,400 to 1,500 upcycled floral arrangements monthly to underserved individuals in Brooklyn, including homebound recipients, nursing home residents, trauma survivors, food pantry clients, immigrants, and Title I school students. The organization diverts hundreds of thousands of flowers from landfills annually through volunteer-powered repurposing of donated flowers from events, weddings, and floral industry sources.

Awards grants to support individual professional development for horticulture professionals, including recipients such as Oliver Lopez, Gaby Stone, Jen Wong, Austin Shupp, Lawrence Haywood, and Scout Kerensky-Coodley in 2024 and 2025.

Hosts the Westchester Garden and Landscape Show to connect landscape professionals with homeowners through hands-on education, collaboration, and public engagement.

Organizes public-facing events such as garden walks, guided sunset tours, history tours, and tropical plantings in public spaces like Madison Square Park and Untermyer Gardens, involving volunteer participation and promoting eco-restoration and urban greening.

Operates a trusted directory to help horticulture professionals connect, find partners, and generate project referrals; also organizes social meet-ups and events such as those at the Greenway Botanical Garden and Untermyer Gardens to foster community and collaboration.

Organizes Plant-O-Rama, an annual horticultural symposium, trade show, and career fair that has been ongoing since 1996 and attracts nearly 1,000 professionals in the Tri-State region.

Offers ongoing educational opportunities including monthly meetings, workshops, field trips, symposia, lecture series, and garden walks that deepen expertise in horticulture and urban biodiversity; also provides exclusive content and hands-on learning for professionals in the Tri-State area.

Provides access to job opportunities, mentor resources, and hosts career fairs such as Plant-O-Rama to support professional advancement for horticulture professionals in the Tri-State area.

Sponsors the Empire State Fruit and Vegetable Expo, an annual event providing educational sessions on crop-specific topics and opportunities for growers to earn certified pesticide applicator credits.

Commissioned Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress to conduct a community needs assessment for Red Hook and Rhinebeck, informing local programming and services.

Involved 77 active volunteers in operations including the clothes closet and Abloom flower program, supporting service delivery and community participation.

Hosts annual events such as a gala and after-party, as well as one-time events organized by community members, fostering community engagement and fundraising.