Rose Festival Names Bloom Project Official Charity for 2017

Bloom Project

Portland, OR. The Portland Rose Festival Foundation has named The Bloom Project its official charity for 2017. The Bloom Project is a volunteer-driven nonprofit that offers comfort during a challenging time in a person’s life. “Our respective missions and activities align so perfectly and offer many opportunities to work together this spring and summer,” says Marilyn Clint, Rose Festival Chief Operating Officer. “We see a lot of synergy between our organizations and we look forward to planning some new mission-based projects this season.”

The Bloom Project receives each of its flowers from donations provided by wholesale floral companies, growers and local grocery stores.

Volunteers repurpose the flowers to create beautiful bouquets, ready to deliver to local hospice and palliative care patients. In the organization’s 10 years, it has distributed more than 165,000 bouquets, with nearly 70,000 donated volunteer hours.

“We’re thrilled to be selected as the official charity partner of the Portland Rose Festival,” said Heidi Berkman, founder and president of The Bloom Project. “Our two organizations share a common mission of continually giving back to those in need, and we sincerely hope this partnership will bring tremendous visibility and awareness to the power of flowers.”

On average, the Spirit Mountain Casino Grand Floral Parade uses 71,000 stems of flowers. As part of this partnership, Berkman and her team of volunteers will look to help the Portland Rose Festival repurpose many of the flowers as gifts for selected organizations.

The flowers are re-purposed to create bouquets, designed and delivered by volunteers to local hospice and palliative care organizations. Hospice nursing staff, clergy, social workers, and volunteers deliver bouquets to patients in their home or care facility.

About The Bloom Project

Founded in 2007 by Heidi Berkman, The Bloom Project is a volunteer-driven nonprofit that provides fresh floral bouquets to hospice and palliative care patients. The Bloom Project receives each of its flowers as donations provided by wholesale floral companies, growers and local grocery stores. The flowers are repurposed by volunteers into beautiful bouquets ready to deliver to local hospice and palliative care patients. Volunteers come from all different backgrounds; many are retired or have little to no floral experience.

Members of the team with floral design experience host training sessions, teaching new volunteers how to: care for the flowers, identify which flowers to keep and how to create a bouquet. Berkman and her team of volunteers are committed to sustainable business practices. Not only are they eco-friendly in their efforts to repurpose flowers from their partners, but also by composting floral waste. For more information, please visit: http://thebloomproject.org.

About the Rose Festival

The Rose Festival produces a broad range of events that burst into bloom on Memorial Day Weekend; attracting nearly one million people from across the city and around the globe, and generating a total estimated economic impact of $65 million for the region’s economy. Among the most visible events are Rose Festival CityFair, an urban fair in Gov. Tom McCall Waterfront Park that spans three weekends, and three parades including the Festival’s “crown jewel,” the all-floral Grand Floral Parade. www.rosefestival.org.

Elisa Klein

I’ve been a professional journalist and writer since 1987, (and long-time reporter for KOIN-TV.) As a nationally published reporter, with a Master’s Degree in Journalism, I love to report positive news and information. Journalism has also connected me with another non-profit where I served as a leader; the Northwest’s biggest writer’s organization: The Willamette Writers.