KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Dollywood donated thousands of flower stems to Random Acts of Flowers. Now, the beautiful blooms have a new life as bouquets for hospital patients.
Flowers flanked Dolly Parton at the parade through her theme park on Friday. She was at Dollywood to open the new Big Bear Mountain roller coaster. Once the parade was over, Dollywood was left with bunches of blooms. The park and Knoxville-based nonprofit Random Acts of Flowers partnered to give the stems new life.
On Tuesday, the large delivery rolled in from Sevier County to the RAF warehouse in Knoxville. Volunteers from Dollywood showed up to arrange the flowers and make them into beautiful bouquets.
Thanks to the donation, RAF says 300 arrangements were able to be made. Those bouquets are going straight to patients at Fort Sanders Hospital in Knoxville.
That's the whole mission behind RAF. People and companies donate flowers, volunteers put together the bouquets and then the arrangements are delivered to patients at hospitals and assisted living facilities across East Tennessee.
The goal is to bring a smile to people's faces, while also offering up a way to say, "Someone is thinking of you, you are not alone." RAF board members acknowledge how isolating being in a recovery room can be, and sometimes the bouquets are the boost those patients need to continue their healing journey.
Dollywood representatives said they were glad to partner with the nonprofit. This is not the first time the park has made a donation of this size, though. When the park opened in March, those flowers from the parade were also donated.
The volunteers who delivered those bouquets in March said those patients were extra excited to get those gifts, because of the possibility Dolly had touched the blooms.
If you have a wedding or celebration of life for a loved one and would like to donate flowers to RAF, you can find information on how to do that on rafknoxville.org.
You can also donate your time, by arranging flowers or helping deliver. You can find that information here.