THE FIRST WEEK OF JUNE (2020) HAS BEEN FULL OF EMOTIONS, REALIZATIONS AND AN UNEXPECTED - BUT SO NEEDED- WAVE OF CHANGE!
I think it’s fair to say that the entire world took a stand on (or should I say a knee) one of the longest, most toxic and terrible issues we have ever faced as humans: Racism towards Black people, and by extension, racism towards Indigenous People, People of Color, the LGBTQ community, and well, all the non-white minorities.
As a person of color, the world’s occurrences have brought a deep sense of contemplation. It hurts incredibly to see that racism is so deeply ingrained in our society because it’s been passed on from generation to generation that it has become the norm. But seeing my friends, family, employees, colleagues (white and non-white) take a stand and say enough is enough, has been incredibly humbling and moving and I feel as though the summer, especially after Covid-19 bring airs oh Hope and Change!
Scrolling through Instagram this past Sunday morning I came across Angel Kein’s illustration about consumer influence and it stopped me in my tracks. The illustration reads “ Women control 80% of consumer spending. It’s in our hands as shoppers to decide which consumer companies grow, scale and succeed.”
This got me thinking that if as a female consumer I have an incredible amount of buying power to make a change in our local economy, as a female business owner I must have even more power to ensure that the person consuming my products and services have a better choice in what they consume not only in terms of the physical products but in their impact in our community. I had stressed thinking about how to best continue to support the movement and how to make it known to our clients, friends and family that I will be of this much needed change, so this post helped me find the answer.
While I’ve done small gestures, like donating part of the proceeds from our Mother’s Day Sales to BlackLivesMatter.ca, using black tissue paper to wrap our florals, and helping distributing signs for the Peaceful Protest on June 5th Downtown Ottawa ( to which I knew I wouldn’t attend as I have PTSD from another event), I wanted to continue to do so permanently and for many more causes. So over the weekend we updated some products in our Online Store to help us continue to financially support these very important causes, so now your flowers will have an even greater meaning!
HOW YOUR BUYING POWER EMPOWERS OUR DIVERSE COMMUNITY
FATHER’S DAY PRE-SALE
Available in two sizes, our Father’s Day Pre-sale bouquets will help support our local Food Bank. Let’s not forget that Covid-19 has had devastating effects on our community not only health-wise but also financially and this means that more and more people are in need of aid to be able to feed their families. There are currently over 39,000 monthly clients at the Ottawa Food bank and 37% of those are children, that’s 14,00 children.
FOREVER COLLECTION
Part of the sale from all our mixed (dried and fresh) and our dried florals will help us support the Black Lives Matter Movement whose mission is to forge critical connections and to work in solidarity with black communities, black-centric networks, solidarity movements, and allies in order to to dismantle all forms of state-sanctioned oppression, violence, and brutality committed against African, Caribbean, and Black cis, queer, trans, and disabled populations in Toronto.
THE LOVE IS LOVE BOUQUET
Our Love is Love Bouquet will support *KIND SPACE . Kind is a community space for two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bi, pan, trans, gender-diverse, queer, questioning, ace, intersex, etc. (2SLGBTQ+) folks of all ages. It is an organization that gives people personal and peer support to understand and inhabit their particular identities with confidence and courage, whatever kind of identity it is. They give people a physical place where they can just be. That’s all. Just be. No pressure. No expectations. No demands, obligations, responsibilities. Whoever they are – even if they don’t fully understand who they are.
THE PEONY* BOUQUET
Our seasonal peony bouquet (Available April-July, December) will continue to help support our local Aylmer Women’s Shelter L’Autre Chez Soi . L'Autre Chez-Soi is more than a shelter or hosting service. The home offers a range of free services 24/7, to meet the needs of women victims of domestic violence and their children. They offer bilingual service and can accommodate nine people at a time, in a safe, free and confidential location for women and their children and they welcome women victims of domestic violence from all over Quebec or elsewhere.
*After the peony season in July we switch to Dahlias (July-October)
I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart in advance for helping me make a difference in our community and being part of the change! It is so hard to know when you’re doing the right thing, and even what to say, but it is safe to say that by providing these organizations with the financial aid they need they can become even better at continuing to provide the services that are so needed in the vulnerable communities.
Be sure to follow us on Instagram and sign up for our newsletter for our monthly check in and if you have any suggestions or comments don’t be shy an reach out!
HAPPY SUMMER!
xo Carla
