Repurposed Roses

When Paige and Harrison Messer were planning their January 2025 wedding, they knew that flowers were going to be an integral part of their celebration. (Full disclosure here: I am the mother of the bride.) As the big day arrived, along with it came the roses, ranunculi, tulips, and hydrangeas of their dreams draping their chuppah, framing the doorways, gracing tabletops, and hanging from the ballroom ceiling. They loved their floral décor, but the socially responsible couple wondered: What to do with all the flowers after their last dance? Turns out nonprofit BloomAgainHouston had just the answer.

Co-founders Danielle Magdol and Missy Pacha launched the Houston chapter of the nonprofit organization in October 2024 with a simple goal: to bring new life to flowers and joy to others. They take donated flowers from corporate events, galas, and charity luncheons that might otherwise be thrown away and repurpose them into personal arrangements to brighten the days of isolated senior citizens, hospital patients, shelter residents, first responders, and teachers. “We are cultivating kindness, building community, and upcycling a resource that would have gone to waste,” says the upbeat and energetic Danielle. “We’re taking a resource that would have been thrown away and are creatively reinventing it.” 

Missy Pacha, Danielle Magdol, Christie Sullivan, and Sloane Sullivan (pictured, from left) work to create new bouquets. (Photo: hartphoto.com)

It’s a concept that has become near and dear to their hearts. Both women, longtime community volunteers, are at the stage in their lives where they are empty nesting – Danielle’s sons are in college, while Missy’s daughters are out of college and working and her son is in college – and have the time to cultivate the growth of the organization, which was inspired by, and now an affiliate of, BloomAgainBklyn in New York City.

“BloomAgainBklyn was founded by my husband’s aunt, Caroline Anderson,” says Danielle. Caroline, who lives in Brooklyn and loves flowers, realized that there wasn’t an organization like New York food-rescue nonprofit City Rescue (similar to Houston’s food-rescue nonprofit Second Servings) for repurposing flowers. So, she approached Trader Joe’s in Brooklyn to ask if they would donate unsold flowers with the idea of giving them to people who wouldn’t ordinarily receive flowers. BloomAgainBklyn was born in 2014. BloomAgainHouston is the first affiliate group, and the local nonprofit is looking to sprout.

Once repurposed, all the donated bouquets are placed into plastic silver mint julep cups for delivery. (Photo: hartphoto.com)

 “It was 2023 when Danielle first reached out about doing this,” recalls the quick-to-smile, outgoing Missy, who knew Danielle from school volunteering. “At the time, my dad was in a nursing home. Dad always had greeting cards displayed that people had given him and I realized then how important it is to have a touchpoint outside the facility, because even with a network, it can feel isolating for seniors. I know that when we deliver the bouquets, it’s a way to show people they mean something.” Danielle says that the act of giving the flowers is rewarding for all involved. “Flowers immediately brighten a mood,” she says. “One of our earliest deliveries was for the local, male veterans at Tunnel to Towers [which provides permanent and transitional housing to veterans in the greater Houston area]. The response was so positive, and one of the guys said to us after we gave him his bouquet: ‘It’s just a box of love.’”

Danielle Magdol and Missy Pacha (from left) co-founded nonprofit BloomAgainHouston, which repurposes donated flowers. (Photo: hartphoto.com)

Missy and Danielle say that spreading the love is made possible through floral donations along with their volunteers who meet to repurpose and repackage the flowers and then deliver them.

In their first six months, BloomAgainHouston received almost 600 floral donations and delivered more than 1,110 new bouquets to 15 different charities. More than 100 volunteers of all ages have worked to make the floral bouquets. Missy and Danielle are delighted to see their donations and volunteers grow. The pair offer three different kinds of workshops to redo and renew the flowers: community upcycling, where volunteers gather to repurpose the arrangements; floral wellness and teaching workshops where volunteers from local schools and communities gather to repurpose the arrangements; and corporate workshops, where employees from corporations gather to team build and practice community volunteerism while repurposing the flowers. At each workshop, they supply all materials and staff to teach basic flower-arranging skills so that the donated flowers, which are usually centerpieces, can be creatively reimagined into individual-sized bouquets for their recipients. Their rule of thumb is that one centerpiece will usually yield six individual bouquets, placed in plastic silver mint julep cups. 

FLOWER POWER Volunteers from the NCL Texas Sage Chapter worked together to turn donated centerpieces from Nutcracker Market into individual bouquets for residents at Star of Hope and Holly Hall last November.

Two of their volunteers are mother-daughter duo Christie and Sloane Sullivan, who were introduced to BloomAgainHouston through their National Charity League chapter. "At our first workshop, we were repurposing floral arrangements from the Nutcracker Market luncheon and were tasked with disassembling the flowers and then individually assessing each one, clipping leaves or petals as needed to restore them to their original beauty,” says Christie, a community volunteer. “Even though the flowers had been previously enjoyed, they were still able to be beautiful once again. We worked to bring the full arrangements over to a long, assembly line-style table and then began cleaning, dividing, and creating the new arrangements.”  

Mom Christie Sullivan and daughter Sloane love to volunteer with BloomAgainHouston. (Photo: hartphoto.com)

Sloane was so impressed with that first workshop that she has since become a Student Ambassador for BloomAgainHouston. “In my role, I am responsible for securing floral donations from events and then planning and organizing workshops,” says Sloane, a seventh grader at St. John’s School. “I recruit volunteers for the workshops and by spreading the word, I am working to build up a volunteer base to contact when we get donations. At the workshops, the atmosphere is really fun and creative. I have had more than 30 fellow students volunteer their time and the best feedback I have received is repeat volunteers! Our last donation was from Bo's Place, and I will be visiting their offices to give a follow-up report and show pictures from our workshop.”

For her part, Bo’s Place Executive Director Jennifer Boubel was thrilled to donate the centerpieces from their 35th anniversary Hearts of Hope dinner. “We normally give our centerpieces away to our guests but this year, after Christie Sullivan, who is one of our board members, told us about BloomAgainHouston, it made perfect sense to donate our flowers, which are donated to us from H-E-B,” says Jennifer. “BloomAgainHouston made it so easy; they came to pick them up and then remade them for delivery to SpringSpirit. The whole process is brilliant, and we had 600 people at our event with 60 tables of flowers. Everyone was so happy that the flowers were going to continue to have a purpose.” Jennifer applauds BloomAgainHouston for making the donation seamless. “There was a willingness to do what needed to be done because they came to get the flowers at 11 p.m. at night! They made it easy for us to say ‘Yes!’”

Mom Christie Sullivan and daughter Sloane volunteer with BloomAgainHouston, which repurposes donated flowers. (Photo: hartphoto.com)

Which is exactly what Missy and Danielle are aiming to do. Their willingness to wear every hat in their nonprofit has made for some memorable moments, like the time they rented a 17-foot box truck to pick up the 150 arrangements from Nutcracker Market. “We realized our truck had no backup camera and I was trying to navigate NRG Park, which is like an entire city unto itself,” laughs Missy. “I could drive forward but not back up – Danielle and I were like Thelma and Louise on that pick-up!” The pair is allowing the nonprofit to blossom organically, and they love the goodwill that is being spread.

“One of our favorite deliveries was to Brigid’s Hope Houston, for formerly homeless women who have been incarcerated and recently released,” recalls Danielle. “We met the women who got to choose their own flowers and they were so excited – and I realized that some of these women had never gotten flowers before.” Missy notes that at a recent delivery to the DeBakey Veterans Hospital, the male veterans were overjoyed to receive their bouquets. “One gentleman was so touched to get flowers,” says Missy. “He told me ‘we did not have flowers in Vietnam.’” It’s that type of response that is what this is all about, says Danielle. “When you give flowers, it’s like giving a cup of sunshine,” she says. 

Missy and Danielle are looking forward to watching their garden of flowers grow and look forward to more donations, more volunteers, and more joy spread to their recipients. “This really is a win-win on every level because you are going to give flowers to those who always put others first like nurses, doctors, and teachers,” she says. “You are going to give an isolated or vulnerable person something that will brighten their day.”

SAYING IT WITH FLOWERS Newlyweds Harrison and Paige Messer had their first dance under a ceiling of roses. After the wedding, they donated all of their flowers to BloomAgainHouston. (Photo: David Truong Studio)

That resonated deeply with the Messers, who were the first couple to donate their wedding flowers to BloomAgainHouston. “Flowers are a significant portion of a wedding budget, and my husband and I like to consider ourselves practical, so spending a portion of the budget on flowers – something that would die within days – had us conflicted,” says Paige Messer, an attorney. “Because of BloomAgainHouston we knew our wedding flowers would be repurposed and re-loved.”

Both Missy and Danielle appreciate that sentiment and hope that more brides and grooms donate their wedding flowers. For the Messer wedding, they had to get creative because of the unprecedented snowstorm. “We’ve learned to be nimble. Take, for example, with Paige’s wedding,” notes Missy. "We were scheduled to deliver the repurposed wedding arrangements to the DeBakey Veterans Hospital on the day the snow was to shut down Houston. We quickly realized we would need to pick up the wedding flowers, host our workshop, and make our delivery all on the same day. We rallied volunteers and were able to get the flowers to a new location just before the storm hit. While we have learned to expect the unexpected, we certainly never could have predicted a Houston snowstorm! It’s these challenges that have taught us there is always a solution if you get creative. For us, that’s part of the fun.”

Danielle Magdol, Missy Pacha, Sloane Sullivan, and Christie Sullivan (pictured, from left) pose with flowers that will be turned into bouquets. (Photo: hartphoto.com)

The new location – senior living center The Tradition – was an especially meaningful surprise for Paige. “When I learned that our flowers were going to the senior residents at The Tradition on Buffalo Speedway, the donation meant even more because my grandma, Ellin Grossman, spent the last few years of her wonderful life at the Tradition on the memory care floor,” says Paige. “I was teary to know that our wedding flowers would go to other grandmas and grandpas who live there. I am so glad our flowers did not only live one night at our wedding but were able to live on the windowsills, tabletops, and common spaces at the Tradition. White flowers can symbolize peace and harmony and we hope this is what the Tradition residents felt with our flowers.

“I couldn't imagine not donating my flowers to BloomAgainHouston and I would tell every bride or groom to donate.” And so would this Mother of the Bride.

For information about floral donations or volunteering with BloomAgainHouston, visit their Instagram page: @bloomagainhouston or email Danielle Magdol at [email protected] or Missy Pacha at [email protected].