January, 2006

Vancouver, BC – during the summer of 2005, while driving home from work I would see an homeless gentleman panhandling everyday at the corner of Terminal Ave. and Quebec St. Everyday he waits by the same intersection for the light to turn red, and then asks (and often refused) as many drivers as he can for spare change before everyone speeds off again.

Most of us couldn’t dream of asking another human being for a hand (money) with even our best clothes on. Now try to imagine being this older gentleman with no home, no clothes, and no prospects, asking strangers that would rather not look at him for money, just so he can to eat. And some people are even violent toward him for asking.

One time, near the end of the summer, I saw him offering flowers to motorists. It was obvious the flowers were not commercially grown, or even presentable. But it was still a brilliant way to make others see the beauty in giving. This was the seed for Flowers for Food (please pardon the pun). I didn’t tell him my plans, not wanting to set him up for more disappointment in case I couldn’t find any flowers to help. It was then I began contacting floral distributors.

Amazingly it was easy to find flora surplus because most of the time they were thrown out if they were too long, short, pale, or lacking a few petals in some cases. But most of these deformities are easily overlooked when accepting them from a homeless person needing to eat. Thankfully the flora distributors saw the humanity to feeding the homeless with what used to be their waste.

The most interesting aspect of setting up this project was trying to find charitable organizations that would help me get the flora surplus to the homeless and less fortunate. Every charitable organization I approached agreed it was a worthwhile idea, but could not justify the resources for maintaining such a pilot project. And after several months of trying, to no avail, I basically let go of the idea and carried on with other pressing matters on my list of things to do.

One night soon after I was waiting outside of a coffee shop for a colleague and I was approached by a young man with a bucket of flowers. He asked if I would take one (for a donation) to help him raise money for food to feed the homeless. I was speechless.

Soon after I was in contact with Ellen Shontsa, the founder of the Mom’s Agape Street Ministry, and after a few phones calls and one meeting I learned more about their already successful campaign raising funds for charitable causes by exchanging flora for donations. Unfortunately though they had to buy most of their flowers from local vendors.

As for the homeless gentleman at the corner of Terminal and Quebec, his name is TJ, and I see him regularly at least once a fortnight. It is sometimes me covering another volunteers shift, or accepting his invitation for coffee. Regardless, he is always grateful for what we do to make his life that much better. And he always says thank you profusely, so I would like to pass his gratitude on to you and all those who support his efforts to help himself.

Thank you kindly for your support.

Marrett Green
CEO and founder