PETAL FOR PARENTS: HOW STIIIZY CELEBRATED MOTHER’S DAY

In honor of Mother’s Day, STIIIZY went out into the Los Angeles community to buy out street vendors’ flowers to gift mothers at various community centers.

On Thursday, May 6, 2021, our team went out to the outskirts of Los Angeles to buy out multiple street vendors’ flowers to gift mothers at various community centers. STIIIZY also visited the Sakura Gardens of Los Angeles: an elderly care facility where most residents will celebrate Mother’s Day alone due to COVID.

Our STIIIZY team drove out early morning to the outskirts of LA where multiple street vendors patiently waited to sell dozens of bouquets that had been freshly made the day of. We were able to visit multiple flower vendors who assumed we wanted to buy just one or two. Our team surprised each and every one of them by purchasing every last bouquet they had for sale, giving them the option to go home for that day.

Before we knew it, our team had roughly 70 bouquets of flowers to take to those who are spending this Mother’s Day alone or do not have a way to celebrate with family due to COVID.

Our first stop was to the Los Angeles House of Ruth (LAHR) which offers a safe and secure haven for homeless families, many of whom are homeless due to domestic violence. We were able to drop off a dozen bouquets for the mothers’ who were currently calling the House of Ruth their home: the shelter whose primary goal is to empower women to move from abuse and dependency to independence and success.

For more than 40 years, LAHR has served more than 180 individuals each year, equating to 5,000 women and children.

The second location that we were able to drop off bouquets to was to  Sakura Gardens at Los Angeles: a Pacifica senior living community sitting on top of a hill overlooking the skyline buildings of LA.

Our STIIIZY team was overrunned with emotions as we experienced the power of giving. With each bouquet delicately handed off to the hands of our elderly women, our team was impacted by each of their reactions; their demeanors lighting up with a contagious energy of joy and gratefulness.

After handing out bouquets at the Sakura Gardens living community, our team walked over to the Sakura Intermediate Care Facility that also resides within the same location. Unfortunately we were not able to hand deliver due to strict COVID guidelines, regardless, the staff members of the facility happily accepted on behalf of their patients.

The Intermediate Care Facility staff expressed their thanks to the STIIIZY team by gifting them with hand-made origami cranes, since most of their patients have not been able to get visitors or gifts in the past year because of the ongoing pandemic. 

STIIIZY was grateful to be offered this opportunity to bring a little cheer to their patients this Mother’s Day and is an experience we will never forget.

After finishing up at Sakura Gardens, we then made one final visit to the Downtown Women’s Center and gifted their organization with the remaining bouquet of flowers — ensuring no flower wasted, but given to all of the hardworking, kind-hearted, never forgotten mothers within our Los Angeles community.

You can view recap photos of the STIIIZY’s “Petals for Parents” day below.