Latest News 18 June 2020 | Back in April, during Level 4 of the COVID-19 lockdown, Blooming Hill Flowers delivered around 600 bunches of flowers to Middlemore staff.
The generous gesture was well received by hundreds of our essential workers, and captured on Television New Zealand’s Seven Sharp.
A couple of months on, and three alert levels down, the owner of Blooming Hill Flowers, Frans van Dorsser, says the response to the company’s gift of $15,000 worth of flowers that would otherwise be thrown away, has been hugely positive.
Mr Van Dorsser says as well as lifting the spirits of Middlemore staff, the delivery helped his team.
“It was a nice thing to do. It was a difficult time and there was so much unknown. To be able to concentrate on doing something nice helped us and it made a difference for some people.”
Counties Manukau Health’s Chief Nurse and Director of Patient & Whaanau Experience Jenny Parr says the gesture provided staff with an unexpected opportunity to be appreciated for their work.
“People who received flowers were really touched by it. Many saw it on TV and social media and also got great joy from it. It was especially poignant because 2020 is the international Year of the Nurse and the bicentennial birthday of Florence Nightingale!”
Meanwhile, Mr van Dorsser is happy to report that at level one, the company is “chipping away” at business and that Mother’s Day provided a particular boon.
“Post COVID, we are alive and well. We will never make up for what we lost. It is about picking up the pieces. We are in a lot better space than we were.”