Archives

Good Neighbors Give Roses

   Written by on September 12, 2013 at 12:30 pm

 By Mary Sansone, Southside Messenger Staff

In celebration of Good Neighbor Day, local flower shops, Rochette’s Florist and Carter’s Flower Shop, gave out free roses to those who stopped by. Every person to go into either shop was handed a dozen roses with the understanding that they were to keep one for themselves and give the other 11 away to 11 different people as acts of kindness.

GoodNeighbor1Rochette Allen is the owner of Rochette’s Florist located on S. Virginia Street. She was also the original brains behind the giving away of roses on Good Neighbor Day. Rochette Allen and her son, Sidney Allen, now work together at Rochette’s, and they love celebrating Good Neighbor Day with florals.

“FTD [Florists’ Transworld Delivery] was sponsoring it at first, and we went on board and did it the first year, and then we had such a great response with people taking flowers to nursing homes and to people that were shut-ins that it made us realize it was a worthwhile thing, and it’s been growing every year,” shared Rochette Allen.

This year, Rochette’s Florist had 650 dozen to give away. Sidney Allen said that to him and his mother, Good Neighbor Day is all about “good will, friendship, kindness, random acts of kindness and warm fuzzy feelings associated with our product, with what we do.”

Knowing that they would be assisting in bringing smiles to the faces of over 7,000 people is why the Allens continue to participate in this annual event.

“We also want to share … the experiences that we have when we pass out flowers and see someone’s face light up and watch them march out the door to do the same, and it’s so much fun,” said Sidney Allen.

Carolyn Jones, the owner of Carter’s Flower Shop, also enjoys the rewarding feeling of being a part of Good Neighbor Day. To Jones, the best part about Good Neighbor Day is knowing how many people benefit from it.

“There are so many wonderful stories. People that come in [to the shop], they take them [roses] over to the nursing home, down to the woodlands … Southside Community Hospital, they go over there, to the patients that are in the hospital. I know they’ve taken them to Trinity Mission, so many places,” Jones shared.

Every year on Good Neighbor Day, people who go into the flower shops have the option to make donations, and then the money collected goes to a specific organization.

Jones said that in the past, the money collected has been given to organizations including FACES, Meals on Wheels and the victims from Katrina and the Farmville Area Rescue Squad. This year, the donations will be going to the Heart of Virginia Free Clinic.

“A few years ago, people were overwhelmed by how generous this gesture is, and we decided that if people wanted to give us some money, and the roses were already paid for by sponsors, we saw a resource there that someone could benefit from, so we decided to turn this into a fundraising event that would benefit a local charity, and this year it’s benefiting the Heart of Virginia Free Clinic,” said Sidney Allen.

Jones specified that, even though Good Neighbor Day has come and gone for the year, it is not too late for people to make a donation. Anybody can make a donation if they fill out a check to Good Neighbor Day at P.O. Box 142, Farmville, Va. 23901.

According to Sidney Allen, a good neighbor is someone who gives “kindness, unconditional friendship [and] generosity.”

In the eyes of Jones, “a good neighbor is someone that you can call on in the middle of the night, and they’ll help you out. Somebody that cares.”

Leave a Reply