Join the Flower Guild

An Altar Flower Ministry

An Invitation from Mary Stone-Moursund, Flower Guild Chair

Our Good Samaritan Church Flowers Ministry is expanding once again to allow us to do more with each Sunday’s “day-old” bouquet than just happily look at it in the church.

For a few years, we bought flowers partly to see them over our livestreams, sometimes to decorate the courtyard or church windows, as well as to celebrate each Eucharist and Compline. We now look forward to dividing the larger altar flower arrangement on Mondays and delivering it among you, our fellow Good Samaritans, as we did in the past.

There are many ways for you to be a part of this ministry.

Know Someone Who Needs Flowers? Tell the Guild

When you know of someone whose day would be cheered by getting a medium-size vaseful of blooms and greens such as appear at Sunday Eucharist (and even other high feast days like All Saints or Thanksgiving), one of us two or three drivers can deliver it to their homes on a Monday or a Tuesday. And if that recipient is in care, we hope we can start to see them again during delivery, if only to find out if the vase needs a pickup the next week.

If you would like, you can tell our Pastoral Care Committee Chair, Pat Wohlwend, who might appreciate some flowers, and she can pass that on to Mary Stone Moursund, our Flower Guild Chair.

Be a Driver, Deliver Flowers

If you want to join us as a driver once a month, let me know. It will take less than an hour of your time, plus a little gas and a GPS or map. I leave a box in the church kitchen for a driver by 10:30am on Mondays, containing three well-packed vasefuls, with the recipients’ names, addresses, and phone numbers (they might want you to leave the gift on their doorstep).

Bring Flowers to the Office

The easiest way to support this ministry is to donate flowers, such as a poinsettia plant, during the Christmas season. Florist plants are strong and well-cooled before we get them. But any plant you see and like, whether red or white or another natural color, will always find a good place around the church if you bring it into the office near the end of Advent.

Flowers aren’t just for the Christmas season, either. Nowadays, we decorate the office a little before Christmas, and also to mark the Service of Lessons and Carols. The church and chapel themselves get their full garnishment by Vigil Day (the 24th). And Easter lilies are kept cool in church storage weeks before that Easter Eve. For their pots, we keep extra gold foil in storage to blend in as we refresh the plants we show. The Easter season lasts longer than the Christmas and Epiphany Feasts (January 6) together!

Support This Ministry Financially

If you want to donate an arrangement to one of the two altars, you can write a check of any amount and designate how you mean it to be used in the memo line on your check. In the past, parishioners’ holiday donations went far toward covering Christmas poinsettias and Easter lilies. Each of the two most holy seasons now comes to $600-$900, as I usually add a big central arrangement ($100 to $150) on each of the high feasts.

But we no longer ask for an $85 donation to cover any other Sunday’s arrangement. And the chapel bouquets are now usually signed up for in the chapel’s binder, bought and arranged by the giver anonymously, without office, florist, or me being informed. A double handful from Trader Joe’s is usually $10.

Dedicate Your Flowers

If you’d like to dedicate your gift of flowers to a loved one, state on the sign-up sheet in the church office when and for whom your dedication should be featured. We can put your dedication in the bulletin.

You can see our sign-up sheets outside the office wall, where the 2022 and 2023 church weeks are displayed. See if your chosen week is still open — almost all of them are, these days! It will take time to accustom all of us to think “Flowers!” again.

Storing Flowers for Special Use

The church has its own Flower Fridge, and we depend on it during hot weather months. If you should need to store the flowers you bring to a memorial or other reception, this refrigeration can help you carry out your plans.

Be Involved!

I love this ministry. I love seeing people, and giving them their blooms. Best of all, this Guild has no meetings to attend.