Greenville Floral and Altrusa members smile with a resident who recently turned 104 years old.

A Greenville, TX, flower business is giving out bouquets of roses, daisies, chrysanthemums, and not to mention smiles, to hundreds of local residents at nursing homes and other senior living facilities.

Through Sunday, Greenville Floral & Gift will help prepare and deliver handmade “Be Happy” bouquets. The company will once again be partnering with Teleflora to celebrate the 21st annual “Make Someone Smile Week” by donating over 500 bouquets to local senior residents.  

Teleflora is a national floral wire service company based out of California that pairs with florists across the country for this charitable project where 30,000 bushels of flowers and their iconic mugs will be donated to deserving recipients.

This year, Greenville will continue the tradition for its eighth donation campaign. Since Teleflora began the program in 2000, it has become the floral industry’s most successful volunteer initiative in North America, donating more than 600,000 “Be Happy” bouquets and their hallmark mugs since its creation.

“We plan on giving 520 mugs out to local nursing homes and are looking forward to seeing all the smiles,” Luanne Holloway Dickens, owner of Greenville Floral & Gifts, told local media.

Floral arrangements are made by hand and then personally delivered to residents throughout the week.

Over 85% of all “Make Someone Smile Week” flowers and plants are paid for by Greenville Floral & Gift, with the rest coming from donated funds, according to Dickens.

“I am having to pay for all the labor. I have troops of women that are coming to help deliver,” she added with a laugh.

“It satisfies me by helping the community and putting smiles on peoples faces,” she added. “We deviled 200 yesterday and it was such a fantastic response from all the people.”

In addition to BriarCliff, other facilities in Greenville that will receive some of the approximately 520  “Be Happy” bouquets include the Harrison House, Legends Senior Living, two Colonial Lodge Senior Living Facilities, and Golden Acres.

“It makes all the residents have a smile on their face and it makes them feel really special– especially the ones who may not have family or someone to visit them,”  said Avo Chester, the certified activity director at BriarCliff Health Center, a 120-bed skilled nursing facility. 

Chester explained the distribution process of the “Be Happy” flowers. She said that the Greenville Floral & Gift staff will walk down the halls of BriarCliff, handing out the flowers and seeing the reaction of residents themselves.

This year, with easing COVID-19 restrictions, the staff members will be able to enter the resident’s rooms and personally deliver “Be Happy” bouquets.

“The residents always look forward to it. They may even know one or two people.”

“It brings joy to their hearts,” Chester added. “Some have even cried.”