Corsages for a Cause

It takes a special person to donate their time and talent, especially when their time and talent is stretched thin during the busy spring prom season. 

Renee Burns is such a person. 

I met Renee over the phone last year when I wrote about her involvement with 

A Prom To Remember. (101 Corsages)

She was at it again this year when I caught up with her in the middle of making a table full of 

corsages for the event!

How many years have you been supplying 

corsages for this event?

This is my 5th year of doing the corsages for the Prom

 

In the beginning what inspired you to make such a huge commitment? 

My Daughter worked at Charles Schwab and they had been approached to help with the Prom in it's first year.  She was on the committee that helps to choose different volunteer programs and asked if I would consider doing something to help. At the time I owned my Flower Shop and I loved the idea. Schwab sold roses at Valentines day that I supplied them for cost and they sold them throughout the office and raised money to purchase the supplies for the flowers. Sarah Botchick from Pioneer Wholesale heard about it and approached me about 
supplying the bracelets for the corsages. 

How many hours do you spend creating the corsages? 

We start making the frames for them about a week prior to the dance. My husband makes the bows and we both work on the frames.  Now that I no longer own my shop and I actually work for Charles Schwab as well they give me 8 hours of "volunteer" time to work on adding the flowers right before prom. It pretty much consumes the last couple of days prior to the dance to get the fresh items added to the frames. This year I used  Mini Cymbidium orchids and Statice  for a bit of a change. In the past I have used Spray Roses and Babies Breath.This year we made about 115 corsages and 50 bouts. for the guys.

Do you go to the event? 

I have attended the early part of the prom when the kids are walking the red carpet, or in this years case the Yellow Brick Road. It is an amazing feeling to see these kids feeling so special for an evening. Carefree and away from the sterile environment they have had to live in.  

 

There was a beautiful young girl that was there and she was actually featured in an article on Yahoo. She was so frail, but stunning at the same time.  We found out that just days before she was literally fighting for her life in ICU. Her hair was gone, her chest covered in bruises and yet when she put on that gown that all went away. She had a beautiful wig and they covered the bruises with makeup and she was just beautiful as were all the kids.  

They got to meet several players from our Cleveland Cavaliers Basketball team and some Cleveland Browns Players too, but mostly they can be "normal" in a world that has been anything but for them. This year was a bit hard on me, because my husband is also battling  cancer and we had just found out the treatments didn't work.  As hard as it is, seeing these kids gives both of us a ray of hope for our own future. 

 

  A huge thank-you to Renee for sharing your experience with us.
 Your story is both inspiring and humbling. 

110 Wrist Corsages ....

and 75 boutonnieres were made with care by Renee & her team of floral designers at
Brown's Flowers to be given away!
Believe me- that's a lot of work..
(about 70 hours between 3 people)
So.... who were the lucky ones on the receiving end of all this time & effort?
 Attendees of the prom event in Cleveland, OH
A Prom to Remember

Through the great efforts of this organization, it's sponsors and countless volunteers
such as Renee from Brown's Flowers , teens in the Cleveland area who are otherwise battling
Cancer were able to forget about that for one night and just enjoy themselves!
Check out the video of last year's event below!

I asked Renee a little about how she came to be a part if it....
It turns out that her daughter works for one of the sponsors (Charles Schwab)  and she put the two together.
All the flowers were paid for through a fundraiser organized by her daughter & all the bracelets were donated by Pioneer Wholesale & Fitz Design.

I asked her how difficult was it to guess what colors and styles she should design since the girls and guys don't get to see the flowers until they walk in the door to the event. 
(this would drive me crazy!)

"We used all different colors, a hodgepodge. When the girls started coming in they found corsages that matched their dresses perfectly! We couldn't have planned it any better!"

(something tells me details like that have a way of
 working themselves out when you get involved in a project like this)

"Such a wonderful thing, we are so grateful we went! 
Those kids walked in with faces beaming & dressed to the nines. 
It was the most overwhelming positive experience I've had in a long time-
worth every bit of my work."

Renee Burns- owner of Brown's Flowers

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