Petals of purpose

Hope Blooms delivers repurposed flowers to those who need it most

By Carol Stender

Hope Blooms is a non-profit that goes beyond flowers to make connections with those in need.

Founder Kelly Krenzel of Fargo, ND, and her many volunteers repurpose donated floral arrangements and cut flowers creating bouquets. Next, they take those bouquets to people in the community from individuals living in senior living communities, assisted care, hospice, and rehabilitation centers.

“While we use the flowers for the reason for the visit, it’s not about the flowers,” she said. “It’s creating moments for people facing hardships or loneliness. The flowers make it okay to knock on someone’s door, but then we can look at that person and say, ‘You matter.’”

Hope Blooms volunteer Jeff Rondeau brings a bouquet to a senior. It’s all about connection. Contributed photo

Hope Blooms receives donated flowers from grocers, funeral homes, event planners and gardeners. Once the bouquets are created, its placed in recycled glass jars that are accented with colorful tags and ribbons.

“We will leave the building for the day and, by the next morning, there’s a box of glass jars by the door,” Krenzel said.

Hope Blooms accepts regular-sized mason or recycled food jars, she said. Volunteers clean the jars and create the bouquets for each vessel.

“We work with all these people to repurpose that love,” she said. “We live in a beautiful and generous community. It’s a community-wide effort.”

Krenzel got the idea for Hope Blooms from a TV news report. The story focused on a woman who cut flowers and took them to a hospice house. It resonated with Krenzel who was working at a hospice house, a job she had for 10 years.

“My job was to meet the families experiencing hospice and to tell their stories,” she said. “It left an impression on my heart.”

The news story also brought memories of her Grandma Frieda and the impact the older woman had on her life. She visited her grandma for six weeks every summer, Krenzel said. During her stay, she would weed the garden everyday for five days and take a break on weekends.

“Come Monday morning, I would start over again for the next week,” Krenzel said. But it was more than tending to the flowers and garden, the time built a connection where she absorbed the wisdom, love and respect Grandma imparted.

She watched her grandmother age, she said.

“Until you see someone at that stage of life, you think how much loss there is and still to feel important and relevant,” she said. “Hopefully we are able to be part of that in some way for others.”

Krenzel became a mom in 2015 and it “cracked my heart open,” she said. Her son, Henry, was just eight months old when she got an idea to do something like the news report she had seen. She shared her vision with floral shop owner friend.

“That’s incredible,” was the response.

That friend asked people ordering flowers for events their intentions for the arrangements after the celebrations. It was a great connection for Krenzel as she got the organization established. She learned, through her florist friend, how to make a bouquet. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Krenzel’s husband, Scotty, helped. He is the quiet support that spurs Krenzel on in her mission. To start Hope Blooms, he moved the furniture out of a basement bedroom. Two saw horses were the base for a sheet of plywood which became her work table.

She worked at her job during the day and made the floral arrangements at night. She would take Henry on walks with him perched in his wagon, as she delivered the first arrangements in her neighborhood.

Kelly Krenzel (left) is the founder of Hope Blooms in Fargo, pictured here with her communications coordinator Carly Pfenning. Hope Blooms repurposes flowers and makes bouquets volunteers take to those in need. Seniors, hospice and rehab centers are a few places where the bouquets are brought. The flowers are a way to open the door, Krenzel said. It’s in the personal connection that volunteers can let them know they matter. Contributed photo

The mission grew from that start.

Hope Blooms started in 2016 and is now celebrating its 10th anniversary and the 120,000 moments Krenzel and volunteers have delivered flowers, smiles, and cares to others.

For the past two and a half years, she has worked full time as the organization’s director.

“I just wanted to bring joy to the residents and it just kept growing and growing,” she said. “It became clear that this was an important thing in our community and it grew naturally with more interested community members behind us.”

And they even served the community through the pandemic. They became inventive. Volunteers created window art and started zoom floral trivia.

“Our thought was, ‘How can we continue to serve?’” Krenzel said.

Hope Blooms moved from the Krenzels’ basement to a business complex on Fargo’s north side eight years ago. Although the exterior looks industrial, the inside of the Hope Blooms location is a pop of color. Volunteers have painted large multi-color flowers on the walls. Tables are lined with donated floral arrangements ready to be repurposed.

While Hope Blooms is a non-profit, there are expenses. Community members and organizations walk alongside Hope Blooms to help the organization pay for its location, lights, electricity and staff including Krenzel as founder and executive director, Carly as communications coordinator, Nicole in community engagement and Becky as events manager.

This year, for example, RDO’s Taters Caters has named Hope Blooms as the recipient of its event’s proceeds. And then there’s Richland 44 FFA Chapter which built 10 raised beds so Hope Blooms can plant and grow flowers to add to the arrangements donated to the organization.

The community-wide effort helps support Hope Blooms’ four main programs. Pedal It Forward involves volunteers preparing individual bouquets who bring flowers to and visit with individuals through the community partnerships the program serves. And there are 90 community partnerships in the Fargo-Moorhead area and in Detroit Lakes and Fergus Falls.

Flower Empower is a therapeutic hands-on activity that invites participants to create their own bouquets with the support of volunteers.

Volunteers prepare flowers to be taken to people in the community. Event planners, florists, funeral homes and local gardeners donate flowers to Hope Blooms. People in the community also donate glass mason jars for the bouquets. Contributed photo

Spark Joy sees volunteers creating bouquets that are brought to community members navigating tender seasons of life. And the Sprout Joy Community Garden is a community garden that provides supplemental flowers, greenery, and accents to repurpose bouquets. The program includes seedling selection, planting flower harvesting, bouquet assembly and delivery of completed bouquets to those served by the programs.

While the program originally served the Fargo-Moorhead area, it has expanded to other communities including Casselton, Lisbon, Hankinson, and Wahpeton in North Dakota and Breckenridge, Barnesville, Hawley, and Lake Park in Minnesota. Hope Blooms volunteers also bring flowers and joy to a Detroit Lakes senior community and to the Minnesota Veterans Home in Fergus Falls.

It all starts at Hope Blooms’ Fargo shop.

“When you come in here, you help us with the pressing needs of the day,” Krenzel said.

That might mean washing glass jars or making bouquets. And one thing is for sure, it’s definitely a happy place.

“Everyone is excited to see you,” she said.

Check out their website, hopeblooms.org, for more information.