Blooms Of Kindness Turns Leftover Flowers Into Joy

A surprise bouquet isn’t just pretty, it can change the temperature of a room. We sit down with Cathy MacDonald to hear how Blooms of Kindness takes donated flowers that might otherwise be tossed and turns them into moments of relief for people in hospitals, nursing homes, rehab centers, and veteran centers across Buncombe County and Henderson County.

Kathy walks us through the backstory, the “Bouquet Day” process, and the practical details that make this nonprofit work: partnering with local grocery stores, accepting wedding flowers, collecting vases and even using decorated tennis ball containers when facilities can’t accept glass. We also dig into why flowers matter, from research on mood and anxiety to the real-life testimonials that keep volunteers coming back week after week. The result is a community-powered model that delivered over 8,000 bouquets in a year, with zero paid staff.

We also share a quick Henderson County real estate market snapshot, highlight a new listing open house in Flat Rock, and close with ways you can support the people doing the quiet work of caring. Check out bloomsofkindness.org, follow along on Facebook and Instagram, and look for “Paint Your Own Bouquet” on August 23 at Mills River Brewery. If you enjoy local stories that restore your faith in your neighbors, subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave us a review so more people can find the show.

Transcript

Ten Years Of Local Good News

SPEAKER_00 0:00

The George Real Estate Group Radio broadcast is celebrating 10 years on WHKP. The George Real Estate Group is celebrating 10 years on the radio live every Thursday morning at 10.05 on WHKP 107.7 FM and AM 1450, and streaming online at WHKP.com. Each Friday morning at 845, the George Real Estate Group presents the Hometown Hero Award to someone in our community who goes above and beyond to make our hometown a better place to live. Here's this week's Hometown Hero Show. It's 845, and it's time for the George Real Estate Group, Hometown Heroes series. And every Friday morning, Noah and I gather and uh honor some folks in our community. We we like to say we pour a cup of kindness, don't we, Noah?

SPEAKER_01 0:57

On Friday mornings. It's it's the highlight of my week, uh, frankly. It's it's so fun to be here with you, Randy, sharing uh amazing stories and and hearing amazing stories about what's going on in the community. Differences, the difference people are making.

SPEAKER_00 1:11

It is. It really is. There's uh there's a lot of news in our world these days, and not much of it's good, but uh we feel like we spread some good news here on Friday mornings.

SPEAKER_01 1:23

Well, you you're right. There's a lot of noise out there, and and I I uh I subscribe to what we focus on expands, and if you want to focus on the good, you're gonna see more good. If you focus on the bad, you're gonna see more bad. But again, we get to decide what things mean, and what we get to decide you know what we what we spend our energy and time on. And so I love that we spend our energy and time on Friday mornings talking about some amazing things.

SPEAKER_00 1:45

Me too, me too.

Henderson County Market Snapshot

SPEAKER_00 1:47

Uh, just a quick snapshot of the real estate market from you.

SPEAKER_01 1:51

It is moving. We're we've actually had over 120 more single-family homes sold in the last 12 months in Henderson County than the previous 12 months. So the the demand has actually increased over the last 12 months versus the previous 12 months. Inventory levels are still low. They're they they've been slowly going up. Uh, some 660 plus homes active on the market. Of course, different price points have different dynamics, different neighborhoods can have different dynamics, but overall, technically, we're in a seller's market. Economists say a six-month supply is considered a balanced market. More than six months is a buyer's market, less than six months is a seller's market. But depending on your price points, again, each neighborhood could neighborhood could have a different dynamic, and price point certainly does too. But the market is is still, I would say, normalizing. It's healthy, it's uh it's it's the sky is not falling like you might be hearing in the news. Uh, certainly people want to be here for all the things that we love, the quality of life, the four distinct seasons, the amazing people, the community that we're in, and we continue to help people every single day. It could be their personal home. We're also working with uh their their estates and real estate planning and 1031 exchanges and commercial, and I mean we're doing it across the board.

SPEAKER_00 3:11

So uh you located in Flat Rock, but work anywhere around our area.

SPEAKER_01 3:16

Well, anywhere in West North Carolina and the upstate, and we have a network of professionals across the United States, frankly, that we work with. People are sending us referrals, we send referrals out. We we can help you literally anywhere. And then again, whether it's your personal or investment property.

Featured Open House In Flat Rock

SPEAKER_01 3:31

I I have to mention, though, real quickly, that we have an incredible open house and brand new listing in the wonderful neighborhood of Dunroy. Uh 24 Turkey Roos Court uh in Flat Rock. This property's phenomenal, 3,400 plus square feet. Open house this Sunday. First look two to four at 24 Turkey Roos Court in Flat Rock. Amazing home in Dunroy. Uh views, new roof, updated kitchen. I mean, it's it's wonderful.

SPEAKER_00 3:58

So it's a beautiful neighborhood.

SPEAKER_01 4:00

Yes, and you can see that on our Facebook page. And of course, we podcast these shows, but grateful to be here sponsoring the Hometown Hero Series.

Meet Blooms Of Kindness

SPEAKER_00 4:07

Well, join me in welcoming Kathy McDonnell from uh from uh a group called uh Blooms of Kindness. And good morning, Mayor Kathy. How are you?

SPEAKER_02 4:18

Thank you guys both for having me here. And I think it's serendipitous that you said this segment is like a cup of kindness. Yeah and our organization is blooms of kindness, so that's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01 4:30

It is amazing.

SPEAKER_02 4:30

And and I on a gloomy day, we need this.

SPEAKER_01 4:33

We do. It's a beautiful day, it's just it's just raining a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 4:38

Well, uh tell us about blooms of kindness. Uh Noah first you it first crossed your radar, didn't it?

SPEAKER_01 4:45

Recently, and again, you uh you came across our radar through Michael uh and and and it you were it was amazing how he was blown away what you do, and he's like, he was telling us about it. And again, I was like, well, we gotta get Kathy here on the radio. And so I want our listeners to hear if so no one's ever heard of Blooms of Kindness. How would you describe it? Can let's hear the backstory of it and then how it came to be and what you're doing right now.

SPEAKER_02 5:10

So I'm gonna start with a story. I want everyone to close their eyes, but not if you're driving, of course. Imagine that you're sitting alone in a hospital room or in the stillness of a senior facility, you hear a knock on the door, someone comes in delivering a beautiful bouquet of flowers. You read the card, it says compliments of blooms of kindness. In that moment, you smile and your mood instantly lifts. This unexpected surprise has made your day. That's blooms of kindness. We deliver joy one bouquet at a time. Our volunteers at Blooms of Kindness craft donated flowers and vases into stunning bouquets. These bouquets are then delivered across Bunkham and Henderson counties. We host uh bouquet day every single Monday morning in Asheville, once a month in Hendersonville, and last year we delivered over 8,000 bouquets into our community.

SPEAKER_01 6:18

8,000.

SPEAKER_02 6:20

Isn't that awesome?

SPEAKER_01 6:21

Phenomenal. That's powerful. And and like you said, when you when you're in those moments of uncertainty, people are in their hospital room and then they're not expecting this, and it shows up, it it changes that moment. I mean, it's powerful.

SPEAKER_02 6:37

Right.

How The Organization Began

SPEAKER_01 6:39

Let's go back. Where who cre where did this vision start from and and where was the what was the catalyst behind this at the beginning?

SPEAKER_02 6:48

We were originally part of a franchise uh organization called Randomax of Flowers. They started in Knoxville in 2008. And if you're familiar with not-for-profits like a humane society, that's a huge franchise not-for-profit. We were with them for a couple years, then we decided to break out on our own and have our own entity here in Western North Carolina. So we changed our name from Randabacs of Flowers to Blooms of Kindness. It was originally founded from a gentleman who had gotten into a car accident. He was at the hospital and his room was filled with bouquets, but he noticed that other patients didn't have anything. So he started randomly giving away his bouquets. And then this whole idea of, in that case, it was random Axe of Flowers was born. So there's a lot of different organizations like this across the country, but there are none that do what we do in Western North Carolina.

SPEAKER_01 7:50

You're one of a kind here in Western North Carolina. No one else is doing that right now. How did you find out about the organization?

SPEAKER_02 7:57

Well, thanks to my parents, my I was always uh surrounded by giving back. And my parents were always the chair people of every organization. My dad was the president of the PTA. He's now gone, rest in peace. But anyone who knew my dad for a second, I am my dad's daughter. So I when as soon as we moved here nine years ago, we have a therapy dog, we got involved in that. We're we're part of an airport, the airport program. I was um I was I do a lot of things to give back. So I had known this organization because I moved here from Tampa. Random acts of flowers is in Tampa. So I wrote an email to their headquarters, they connected me with the person who was starting. So I was part of the three ladies that started the group here from the very beginning in 2023.

SPEAKER_00 8:52

Okay, okay. Well, uh you know the the the I think maybe biblical, uh, it's more blessed to give than to receive. I can imagine if you you've you've created 8,000 instances of gratitude in somebody's life. That's bound to be very powerful.

SPEAKER_02 9:12

And we get so many m amazing testimonials. People will write in and say, My mom was at a rehab facility and she received a bouquet and you know, just hundreds, men, women, uh all for on their behalf and on their families' behalf. So it's

Where Bouquets Go And Why

SPEAKER_02 9:31

quite wonderful.

SPEAKER_01 9:31

How are people identi or how do you identify uh who you're delivering the flowers to? Are you worried and working with the hospitals or I mean, like are people saying, hey, are I mean again, you're you're showing up for these people in very critical moments of their lives.

SPEAKER_02 9:47

Right. We do have a very specific model. So we only deliver to hospitals, nursing homes, rehab centers, veteran centers. We don't do individual bouquets because we don't ever want to compete with our wonderful flower organizations, our flower shops around the the area. So we don't do that. Um so for example, party hospital or advent, we will deliver a box or um what's the big one around here, the big senior community, uh village. Carolina Village. Yes, thank you. Carolina Village. We deliver in Bunkham and Henderson County. So again, we deliver to um facilities as opposed to individuals.

SPEAKER_01 10:35

Okay, then the facility is the one that's distributing the flowers. Okay, it's under their discretion.

SPEAKER_02 10:41

Correct. And we don't have when you deliver in a hospital, you have to have credentials and background checks. We don't do that. So we drop them off, and then a lot of times too, they leave them out for everyone, like a senior facility would leave them out on the tables in the cafeteria for everyone to enjoy. And that's equally as lovely, I think.

SPEAKER_01 11:02

Yes.

Donated Flowers Vases And Real Impact

SPEAKER_00 11:03

Where uh where do you get these uh these obviously are donated arrangements and and blossoms? So where do you come up with those, Kathy?

SPEAKER_02 11:12

We get them from our local grocery store partners, um Sam's Club, uh, Fresh Market is always one of our wonderful partners. We get a lot from weddings. Um so we were part of a bridal show in February, and we got a tremendous amount of interest from that. And you know, here in this area, we're more apt to receive flowers in the summer, of course, than January. Um, so we and we'll get just Target, they'll call us and say, hey, we have three bockets of bouquets and or flowers, and we have our wonderful volunteers put those together.

SPEAKER_01 11:52

Isn't that remarkable? Instead of them being wasted and thrown away. Yeah, I mean being repurposed.

SPEAKER_02 11:58

Right. And vases too. Think of all the random vases people have under their cupboards or big big mason jars or pasta jars that are cleaned out and the labels taken off. We'll take them all. Now, there are some facilities that don't accept glass. What we do with those, which is really cool, is we get old tennis ball containers and we have volunteers decorate them. Nice, and then we use those uh f for the vessel to put the flowers in.

SPEAKER_01 12:30

What a great pivot.

SPEAKER_02 12:31

So we find a way to service everyone.

SPEAKER_00 12:33

That's amazing. It's uh the the power of flowers.

SPEAKER_02 12:38

Yes, the power of flowers.

SPEAKER_00 12:40

Yes, it is very powerful, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02 12:42

It is. I mean, there's been studies after study, and I actually brought some notes on the.

SPEAKER_01 12:46

Yeah, let's hear it.

SPEAKER_02 12:48

Um receiving flowers can improve overall mood and increase feelings of happiness and well-being. Flowers can help foster relaxation and reduce anxiety levels. Note to my husband, yes, I'll take some. Uh boost cognizant function and mental clarity. So there's been lots and lots of studies. And in addition to the studies, we have real life testimonials that we draw

August Event And Ways To Help

SPEAKER_02 13:14

from.

SPEAKER_00 13:14

You have uh in our closing here an event coming up uh in August.

SPEAKER_02 13:20

Yes. So we um we don't do a lot of events, but we like to get out in front of the community. So I want to give out a shout out to my friend Penny, who works at Mills River Brewery. We're going to be doing um like a paint and sip type event on August 23rd at 130. We're calling it Paint Your Own Bouquet. For the price of your ticket, you will receive painting instructions and of course, creativity is encouraged, a raffle ticket for one of three prizes, and part of that fee will be a donation to us. So it's gonna be a really fun event. And Mills River Brewery every single Sunday has a Bloody Mary Bar. So you can go for the Bloody Mary Bar and stay to paint.

SPEAKER_00 14:07

Get real creative.

SPEAKER_02 14:08

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 14:09

Uh well, uh, how do we get in touch with you and your organization to either come to the event or yeah, how other ways people can get involved or donate or volunteer, or I mean, what do you guys need and how can the community help?

SPEAKER_02 14:24

So we are a 100% volunteer-run organization. We have zero paid staff. So everything we count on our amazing volunteers and board members for everything. So we have a website.

SPEAKER_00 14:41

Go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 14:42

We have a website, um, bloomsofkindness.org. If you want to find us on Facebook or Instagram, like us and follow us and share. Everything is, and I'm the social media person too. I wear lots of hats. I'm the secretary of the board as well. So this is where all of our volunteer opportunities every year we do a really fun gift wrapping event at the Blue Ridge Mall. This year we're expanding it to the Asheville Mall. I'm a total gift wrapping geek. I bring me your gifts, I'll wrap them all.

SPEAKER_00 15:15

Oh, whatever.

SPEAKER_02 15:16

So if that's something that you like, check, keep our looking at our Facebook.

Weekly Shows How To Reach Us

SPEAKER_01 15:22

We're so thankful to have you here, Kathy.

SPEAKER_00 15:25

We are. Noah, thank you for sponsoring and bringing us news from uh organizations like Blooms of Kindness. You you bring that to the airwaves here, and we are grateful to you. Join us each Friday morning at 845 for the George Real Estate Group, Hometown Heroes Show. The George Real Estate Group is located in Flat Rock, North Carolina, near Hendersonville in Henderson County. You can find them online at realestatebygreg.com. The George Real Estate Group can be reached at 828-3930134 or stop by their office at 2720 Greenville Highway, Flat Rock, North Carolina. Tune in live each week on Thursdays at 1005 a.m. on WHKP 107.7 FM and 1450 AM, or stream online at WHKP.com, or download these podcasts wherever you get your podcasts. The George Real Estate Group brings you the WHKP Hometown Hero Series every Friday morning at 845.

A Message On Rightsizing With Trust

SPEAKER_01 16:32

Maybe the house feels a little too big these days. The stairs a little steeper. The pace of life a little too fast. But what if your next move wasn't about letting go? It was about making space for peace, for freedom, for what matters most. At the George Real Estate Group, we understand that real estate isn't just about the house. It's about transitions, timing, and trust. We've helped thousands of families in Western North Carolina make smart, thoughtful moves. Closer to nature, closer to family, closer to home. So when you're ready to rise size, simplify, or start fresh, we'll be here. The George Real Estate Group. Local, trusted, proven. Call us today, 828 393 0134. Find us online at realestatebygreg.com because your next chapter deserves to feel just right.