Stephanie Simpson: Donating 25,000 Flower Arrangements

After large events like weddings, the flowers are too often thrown away. But Stephanie Simpson had an idea, couldn't we repurpose these flowers and bring joy to folks at nursing homes, cancer centers, and schools? 901 POP (Petals of Purpose) has their own Army of 580 volunteers who've donated 25,000 arrangements!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
We had Mike five hundred and eighty individuals who volunteered
with us. Many of those come more than once, and
some are just like a student group that might have come.
And then the year before with six hundred and seventeen. Yeah,
it's a true army. Yes, I love that word. And
then we celebrated in April of this year, we delivered
our twenty fifth thousand arrangement.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Twenty five thousand forget the flowers, twenty five thousand interactions
with people who desperately need human connection, need.

Speaker 3 (00:35):
To be reminded.

Speaker 1 (00:35):
Then, Yes, you are loved that someone thought of you,
someone took the time to create this just for you.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
Welcome to an army of normal folks. I'm Bill Courtney.
I'm a normal guy. I'm a husband, I'm a father,
I'm an entrepreneur, and I've been a football coach in
Inner City Memphis. That last part somehow led to an
oscar for a movie that most made about our team.
It's called Undefeated. I believe our country's problems are never

(01:08):
going to be solved by a bunch of fancy people
and nice suits using big words that nobody ever really
uses on Cinn in Fox, but rather by an army
of normal folks. That's us, just you and me deciding, Hey,
you know what, maybe I can help. That's exactly what
Stephanie Simpson, the voice you just heard, has done. This.

(01:32):
Gal decided to take all of those wedding and event
flowers that people take home or throwing the dumpster when
the event or wedding is over, and repurpose them into
arrangements for senior living facilities, schools, cancer patients, and pretty
much anybody else who could use little kindness and joy.
And her nonprofit nine oh one POP, which stands for

(01:56):
Pedals of Purpose, has delivered get this, over twenty five
thousand of these arrangements. I just can't wait for you
to meet Stephanie right after these brief messages from our
general sponsors, Stephanie Simpson, thanks for joining me, How are you?

Speaker 3 (02:26):
Thanks for having me Bila to be here of it.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
You know, usually at this point I will say, how
is your flight in from Dallas? How is your flight
in from Kansas City? How is your flight in from
North Carolina? Although I don't know we'll ever get another
guest from North Carolina, Alex, We've.

Speaker 4 (02:43):
Been ripping on North Carolina barbecue. Lately, and it's got
like one hundred and twenty thousand views on TikTok.

Speaker 2 (02:48):
Now it's gotten a little viral, and everybody's beat me up.
In fact, one guy said something, and I'm paraphrasing, I
wouldn't listen to this guy about barbecue, but maybe let's
look at him. Wow, what a jacket?

Speaker 3 (03:05):
Do you have a donut?

Speaker 4 (03:07):
Well, Gibsons is here, we're the kids.

Speaker 2 (03:09):
Donuts are nuts too, so. But the point is I
don't have to ask you where you're flewing from because
you drove across town.

Speaker 3 (03:17):
You can ask me how my drive down two forty was,
and it was uneventful.

Speaker 2 (03:20):
That's Stephanie Simpson. Everybody is a Memphian and she has
a great story. And we certainly are a national show
and not Memphis centric, although I talk about Memphis all
the time because my hometown will love it. But one
of the reasons we're highlighting Stephanie today is because don't

(03:42):
worry about it being Memphis, because what she's come up
with and what she's done is literally scalable and doable
in any community in the United States. And we hope
that some of you inspired by her story and maybe
think of a way to do what she does in
your area, and we'll get to that. Stephanie is the

(04:03):
founder and president of Not a One POP and POP
is an acronym for pedals of Purpose, which we will
get to in a little bit. But first, some of
you will remember Jenny Manguno. I always have a problem
with her last name. Jenny is the teacher at Briar
Crest who used an army of normal folks for her

(04:27):
leadership class.

Speaker 4 (04:28):
I'm my oral communications.

Speaker 2 (04:31):
Oral communications class, been teaching forever and Jenny told us
about Stephanie, and so yet again, a shout out to
army member and listener and also guest Jenny Manguno for
suggesting Stephanie to us, And like we always ask, you,
send us ideas, tell us stories. Alex will look into

(04:53):
them and if we think they have a purposeful value
for the show, we will bring them in and talk
to him and stay Ephany is.

Speaker 4 (05:01):
Stephanie doesn't suck? We Apparently Stephanie doesn't suck.

Speaker 2 (05:04):
Apparently Stephanie does not suck.

Speaker 3 (05:06):
Y'all make that decision afterward.

Speaker 2 (05:07):
I guess I don't know, So tell me.

Speaker 3 (05:11):
About you at a left field. Wasn't expecting it. I
had left my former job a great terms.

Speaker 1 (05:17):
This was an opportunity that I just was excited about
and I couldn't miss. And six months after joining the
staff at New South, I was diagnosed.

Speaker 3 (05:25):
With breast cancer at forty one. No clue that that
was even a possibility.

Speaker 1 (05:31):
Second Mamma gram ever, just I'm a rule follower, No
just you know, went in second Mamma Graham. Ever, because
I'm a real follower. You're supposed to get your Mammograham
after you turn forty, And actually no one even knew
that had been called back for a second appointment.

Speaker 3 (05:45):
I was just doing I was supposed to do.

Speaker 1 (05:46):
I was kind of a jerk when they said where
do you want to go for your and I was like, how.

Speaker 3 (05:50):
Close can it be to my office? I don't want
to spend a lot of time? How quick? And it wasn't.

Speaker 1 (05:55):
I was actually writing thank you notes because I was
chairing a fundraiser for the Women's Foundation while I was
in the lobby, because I didn't.

Speaker 3 (06:01):
Want to waste a minute, you know, while I'm waiting.

Speaker 1 (06:03):
And it wasn't until all of a sudden she kind
of pauses and I'm like, wait, are you.

Speaker 3 (06:07):
Seeing something, you know, in forty one.

Speaker 1 (06:10):
So I left there and called my mom and said,
don't freak out. I've just had you know, a second
mammogram and it's probably breast cancer, but we don't know
anything yet. So I'm telling my mom that, yeah, she
didn't even know. Well, I mean, because I was more worried,
I hadn't even told them. So that was in October
of twenty sixteen, so kind of didn't have a lot

(06:31):
of time, you know, I was still involved in things,
so I mean, I didn't know what that was going
to look like when I had that, you know, experience
on a Tuesday, I can remember when it was. And
so within two days I had had a biopsy at
West and knew.

Speaker 3 (06:45):
What I had.

Speaker 2 (06:46):
West Cancer Clinic.

Speaker 3 (06:47):
West Cancer Center here in Memphis.

Speaker 2 (06:49):
The Course Cancer Center.

Speaker 1 (06:50):
Yeah, yeah, it know, it's one of those places that
you drive by and you're glad it's here.

Speaker 3 (06:54):
But really don't want to go there, you know. But
fortunately it was right down the street.

Speaker 1 (07:00):
And so I can talk a lot about that, but
I will just say fortunately, even in twenty sixteen, there
had been a lot of advancements and treatments, and so
within a month a week of Thanksgiving, I had a lupectomy.
I missed work for a week, and then I went
back to work the next week, and in January, I
had like a month worth of radiation every day, so

(07:21):
I go at lunch so I would just run out
get my radiation. So I'm now nine years out, fortunate,
very very grateful that the kind that I had was
easy to.

Speaker 3 (07:32):
Treat, found it early. So yes, sidebar message.

Speaker 1 (07:35):
Make sure you were following your doctor's orders and you're
getting your mammograms for females.

Speaker 3 (07:41):
And because it made it a really easy pass.

Speaker 1 (07:43):
So I took medication for five years afterwards, and I
still go every year and seem oncologist, I'm sure I'm okay.
So that's actually a good part of the story because
that's sort of a kind of everything kind of comes
to a screeching halt, and it's like what is really
important here? You know, Like I'm forty one, I've had
a really full life, But you know, Lord, is this
really it?

Speaker 2 (08:02):
Like you know, it did mortality enter your mind?

Speaker 3 (08:07):
It absolutely did.

Speaker 1 (08:08):
I mean it makes me cheery talk about it, Like
you know, I you know, as a person who has
strong faith, you know, you know what you believe but
like when you're faced with it at forty one, you're like, Okay,
if I really believe this, and I have to believe that,
you know, the number of my days on this earth
was planned long before I was even here, and I
have to accept that, whether I like it or not.

Speaker 3 (08:27):
And I say all that to say that.

Speaker 1 (08:29):
Even one of my best friends that was a part
of that journey with me passed away of cancer in
May of this year, found out fourteen months ago she
was a part of my story and never thought, you
know that less than ten years later she wouldn't be
with us. So you need to hear that because it
does change you. Even though I was already giving and

(08:50):
wanting to do things to make my world a better place,
but when you're.

Speaker 3 (08:54):
Faced with okay, is this it at forty one? So
I was grateful. So it's still very grateful that I.

Speaker 1 (09:00):
Had the easy kind, that that was a treatable and
that I was able to you know, even during that time,
I was still involved in community service.

Speaker 3 (09:11):
I cheered at luncheon.

Speaker 1 (09:12):
I remember the board chair at Books from Birth had
had called me when I told her, you know that
I was planning the spring luncheon.

Speaker 3 (09:19):
Fundraiser, and she was like, do we need to find
somebody else to do it.

Speaker 1 (09:22):
I'm like, I still want to do it because I
wanted to feel normal. I wanted to be normal. Never
ever do you want to feel normal and get results
that are normal until you've been abnormal, you've seen those
test results.

Speaker 3 (09:33):
So so it was.

Speaker 1 (09:35):
And even in part of my stories, which I'll talk about,
my grandparents, you know, were in their late nineties at
the time.

Speaker 3 (09:41):
Of course they knew that here I am.

Speaker 1 (09:43):
You know, I didn't want them to be worried, you know,
about their forty one year old granddaughter.

Speaker 3 (09:47):
But it does.

Speaker 1 (09:48):
It does change you when you have that kind of
and I never want to forget that feeling. You know,
all of a sudden, deep breasts were my best friend.
And you know, the traffic that I was complaining about.

Speaker 3 (09:59):
The week before, it's kind of like a gift. I
can pause.

Speaker 2 (10:02):
I was just about to ask at forty one years old,
being faced with that, and you start earlier than most
forty one year old, start really considering your own mortality.
You know, did did the irritating things irritate less and

(10:23):
the important things become more important?

Speaker 1 (10:25):
I mean again, I saw like waiting in line somewhere
and I'm you probably can tell for my personality and
like I wanted to use every minute, like don't waste
my time? Why does it take you so long to order?

Speaker 3 (10:34):
You know?

Speaker 1 (10:34):
And now all of a sudden, it's like, okay, I
can breathe, I can like look around and enjoy this
moment for a minute, or maybe I follow up and
respond to a text that's given.

Speaker 3 (10:42):
Me a moment to do that.

Speaker 1 (10:43):
Absolutely, it made you when you start really considering that
you know, we're all terminal.

Speaker 3 (10:49):
We just don't know when that expiration date is. It
makes you view the world very differently. So sorry, yeah.

Speaker 2 (10:57):
Not to be here. Well, no, it's good. It's a
really it sets the stage for understanding not on one pop,
which is you grow up a really lovely but middle
income lifestyle. You go to Memphis, you work hard, you
get degrees, You decide you want to be as even

(11:19):
as a young person, involved in trying to serve, and
you kind of learn how to serve through your time
at Junior League where you volunteered, and you work hard
at your first job and you take this new job
that's obviously a big promotion and you've been in the
junior league, and now you're at forty one years old
with your new job kind of have quote arrived professionally.

(11:44):
You've been involved in the community, you're doing good work there.
You've kind of transitioned out of that. You're thinking about
what next and then slap and the breaks go on.

Speaker 3 (11:54):
They have to, right.

Speaker 2 (11:56):
And now you can considering your immortality, you're considering the future,
you're considering your health and it has to have been
a moment of reset.

Speaker 1 (12:11):
It was, and how I dealt with that in addition
to you know, obviously the treatment and doing you know,
fallowing doctors orders and my wife obviously focusing on that.
But I got involved in West Fight On so as
heard that and what it's called West fight On shout out.
It's it's a fundraiser for West Cancer Center.

Speaker 2 (12:31):
Makes sense. By the way, that was sincere since we're
talking Memphis stuff, I'm gonna go ahead and say this,
Doctor Bill West, the founder of West Cancer It was
clinic now senator, who incidentally is the son in law
of Kevins Wilson, the founder of Holiday Inns. Is one
of the finest guys on the face of the planet.

(12:52):
He's a personal friend I love him very very much.
He has been nothing but kind and generous to me.
He started research cancer research many many, many many years
ago in the eighties and did cutting edge stuff before
anybody else in the country even was doing it right

(13:14):
here in Memphis. And the fact that you were treated
at West means you were getting the top.

Speaker 1 (13:21):
Quality, very best at the breast center that he started
in memory of his mother who had breast cancer.

Speaker 2 (13:27):
That's exactly right. Actually, that story is in my book.
I interviewed him for Against the Grain and highlighted him
for a piece of it, and his most poignant story
was why he got into cancer, specifically breast cancer work
because of the love and the loss of his mother

(13:49):
that he says, in today's world would not have Guilder.

Speaker 3 (13:54):
So that's why I said, thankful for the.

Speaker 2 (13:58):
For West Cancer Center. I get it. That's so you
did some of that one.

Speaker 3 (14:02):
So I did that for two years.

Speaker 1 (14:04):
So in twenty six and twenty seventeen and twenty eighteen,
I chaired.

Speaker 3 (14:08):
That committee that led that fundraiser. That's an annual.

Speaker 1 (14:10):
Fundraiser, but it's also kind of a call to action
for the community to rally around, you know, our cancer
fighting spirit. And to develop that and to support those in.

Speaker 3 (14:21):
Our community at our and have been fighting cancer.

Speaker 2 (14:28):
We'll be right back. So my way of this introduction
and the first the table setting of this, people will think, well,
this is a story about breast cancer, but it's not

(14:51):
the story of breast cancer. Is what led you to
the story of not on onepop And my understanding is
you're recovering, starting back to work, and there were some
flowers on your desk.

Speaker 3 (15:01):
Well, this was a little bit later.

Speaker 1 (15:03):
It's a bit a little bit later, so that would
have been twenty So I was diagnosed in twenty sixteen,
finished all my treatment, my you know, my radiation in
twenty seventeen, and then I continue to take medication and
I had you know, checkups and everything, but was basically
you know fine after that.

Speaker 3 (15:18):
So it was actually two years later.

Speaker 1 (15:20):
So I during that period, you know, I was doing
West Fight on in twenty seventeen, twenty eighteen. That was
sort of my extracurricular focus at cheering that fundraiser and
then but yes, I had flowers on my desk, and
then twenty nineteen kind of moving on, Yeah, it kind
of moved on. I'm not like I'm still doing things.
And it's not that I need to do something and
move on, but there's there's you know, seasons of different

(15:42):
projects and sometimes I'm a you know, you're involved, and
then other times you do something and it's time to
you know, you pass the baton to somebody else who
can do.

Speaker 3 (15:50):
It bigger and better. You just move it down.

Speaker 1 (15:52):
So in twenty nineteen, I had actually I was on
the Books from Birth, a board which is another local
nonprofit that and it's now part of porter Leath that
gives every child in Shelby County from birth until here
she is five years old a book once a month.
You just have to sign up. It's free, but as
you know, nothing is really free. Somebody has to raise

(16:13):
the funds in the administration. So that is what the
Books from Birth organization did. So I had been at
our May board meeting and they had given me flowers
for like I think I was like board member of
the Year or something that year for some work I'd done,
and they were on my desk and they just brought
me joy.

Speaker 3 (16:31):
You know, I like having them. I like flowers.

Speaker 1 (16:33):
Not everybody you know has flowers, not everybody loves them,
but they do bring joy having that you know on
my work desk, and I just remember, I will often
say I felt like it was heaven sent because to
give you a little bit of background on that, So
at forty one, forty two, forty three, I had two
grandparents that were still living. I lost one grandparent when

(16:54):
I was in the sixth grade of line cancer, and
then I had.

Speaker 3 (16:58):
My mom's My mom's mom lived with my parents.

Speaker 1 (17:02):
My dad's mother passed away in twenty fourteen, but my
dad's dad lived in Kirby Pines, which is a retirement
community that was like ten minutes from where I lived.
So as an adult, you know, they were always around.
I mean they were around as kids all four but
then you know, as a in someone in their forties
to have two grandparents who were still a part of

(17:23):
my life even in their late nineties. Both of them
were my grand was he had just moved to an
assisted living before he passed away in twenty when to
get my year twenty eighteen and then just that so
dad's dad and then my mom's mom died just three
months later. So that's a huge adjustment, I mean makes

(17:44):
me cheer even talking about that. You know, mom's mom,
dad's dad they'd been around my dad and I were
my grandfather's primary caretaker. So I was at Kirby Pines.

Speaker 3 (17:52):
All the time.

Speaker 2 (17:53):
In Kirby Pines as.

Speaker 1 (17:55):
Retirement community, so it's a senior living community, starts out
with independent living, has all the way you know, nursing home,
depending on what the residents need. So it was like
that aha moment, you know, So both of them. One
died in August in twenty eighteen. One died in November
twenty eighteen, and here I am six months later, you know,

(18:15):
So that's a big change for our family and those flowers,
and it was like having scent of.

Speaker 3 (18:21):
You know, repurposing flowers.

Speaker 1 (18:23):
So you know, over the years, is I did events
and special functions. You know, I did not want anything
to go to waste. I don't want to waste anything.
And the flowers, you know, we would take them in,
you know, to our family members or use them. I'm
just thinking about just random events, you know, give them,
I take them.

Speaker 3 (18:41):
To my grandparents or whoever else.

Speaker 1 (18:43):
And so I immediately text sent a text to my
friends said, oh my gosh, like because at this point
in my life, I didn't have any major other activities
going on.

Speaker 3 (18:51):
And I she did.

Speaker 1 (18:52):
She has you know, had like three kids, very very
active at the time, but she was interested in this too.
And so that that was in May of twenty nineteen,
and so the wheels started turning, Like how much.

Speaker 2 (19:04):
In the wheels were You're looking at those flowers, and
you're thinking of these people in retiring communities and all
over the place that don't have fresh flowers, and you
think these flowers could have a second purpose, a second life.

Speaker 3 (19:20):
But more importantly than the flowers. And here's the special secret. Yes,
and I do. Everybody's going to hear this.

Speaker 1 (19:26):
They're getting into you know, into my head, which is, yes,
they're beautiful and they bring me joy. But when you
make the connection with my grandparents, you know, it's really
more about those moments of magic when someone actually brings
you flowers and interacts with you. So when a church,
my grandfather's church might bring socks to them at the

(19:46):
holidays or when they do their visits. Yes, I'm sure
he appreciated the socks, but he really appreciated talking about this.
You know that somebody thought of me enough or spend
their time, you know, somebody these active as they're older,
you know, very vibrant lives, doing activities and involved in
you know, church. Hey, it'll be me hopefully God Winnley

(20:08):
one day that I lived to be in eighties or
nineties and in the retirement home, but that somebody goes
that extra step to come see me, you know, and
they're bringing a treat of some sort. So really, those
flowers were the vehicle for those human interactions because I realized,
especially having grandparents in their nineties, that that's what it's about,

(20:30):
is showing somebody else that they're seen and that they're
loved and that they're cared for.

Speaker 3 (20:34):
Sorry, I'll take a pause.

Speaker 2 (20:35):
Near So this could be nine to one sop socks
a purpose.

Speaker 3 (20:44):
It could be socks.

Speaker 1 (20:44):
It could be even when we were talking to our
marketing person who helped us pro bono initially, people of purpose.

Speaker 3 (20:51):
You can make it bigger than nine on one. Pedals
are purpose.

Speaker 2 (20:54):
But the vehicle, the vehicle to these interactions is repurposing flowers.
And the truth is think of all the way, you know,
when I've read this, I thought, holy crap, how many
weddings have I been to that people have spent fifteen
twenty thousand dollars on flowers? More for an eight hour event,

(21:18):
or a reception or rehearsal, dinner, or even a funeral.
We do some or I wondered about that. So now
I can tell you any other place or banquet that
there's flowers people go. Typically some people may swipe one
bouquet if.

Speaker 3 (21:37):
They come home, centerpiece, maybe right, whatever.

Speaker 2 (21:39):
But the point is all of those most of that
stuff goes thrown away.

Speaker 1 (21:44):
The bens, the trash cans, the dumpsters outside, because let's
think about it. You know, floral designers and florists, Yes,
they love flowers, but they don't have the man and
woman power.

Speaker 3 (21:55):
That's not their business.

Speaker 2 (21:56):
Plus, it's not a very good business idea to sell
your flowers and then encourage your customers to continue to
use them. You want to sell more flowers.

Speaker 1 (22:04):
Right, and then also like to do anything, you know,
philanthropic with them. That's just not their business model they want. Yeah,
they love I mean, of course they're very happy with us.
We do that, but you think about it, as you said,
thousands of dollars. I will tell you, before I even
got into this, I had no idea what people were
spending on flowers.

Speaker 2 (22:24):
I now do some weddings. I now know ridiculous.

Speaker 3 (22:28):
That's a whole another podcast. The wedding is actually I.

Speaker 4 (22:31):
Want to hear with those Stephanie, what's the max that
you've heard of people spending on flowers that they're wading?

Speaker 1 (22:35):
Oh gosh, I mean there's some that I don't even
know how much they spent. I mean hundreds one of
the ones we did.

Speaker 3 (22:41):
The foot bill, thousands of yees all we've done one.

Speaker 2 (22:43):
Yes, okay, well that's what that's a whole another world.

Speaker 3 (22:49):
But we don't get those very often. Think about it.
We can do more than one in a weekend, so
it really can add up.

Speaker 2 (22:55):
I mean, I can tell you so my kids are
twenty nine, seven, twenty six too, married, one engaged, once feral,
so I don't know about that one. But the point is, yeah,
the point is not only in my own children's weddings,
but because most of my children's best friends, and they're
massive friends group with four kids, that's a big We've

(23:18):
been interacting with many of those kids. So Lisa and
I have been invited to the weddings. So if you
add in all the weddings we've been to between our
own kids and our friends friends' kids and our our
friends children's I mean, we've been weddinged out the last
eight years. But when I read this, I thought about,
holy crap. You could have filled the FedEx's form with

(23:40):
all these flowers, and I am certain that eighty percent
of them went into a garbage can the.

Speaker 3 (23:45):
Dumpstert back because there.

Speaker 2 (23:48):
With a little water and trimming up, they can live
another week or so. And yes, and why would the
floors care if you're taking these things and repurposing for
people who would never get flowers?

Speaker 1 (24:00):
Virtually, Yeah, they don't care. In fact, we have great relationships.
You know, Memphis is a big city, but it's also
a small talent in a lot of ways, and we
work with a lot of the same ones or even
if they're new to us, you know, we're.

Speaker 2 (24:12):
Part of here. So you got your friend, I'm a
friend that starts at things on my desk. I think
we could do.

Speaker 1 (24:19):
May of twenty nineteen, and so I text her and
I'm like, oh my gosh, like there will start turning.
I mean, like I'm going home and writing a business plan.
I've never done that, you know, while background, but I
do have business experience and nonprofit but I've never like
started anything from scratch.

Speaker 3 (24:35):
And so started that summer so called her first.

Speaker 1 (24:38):
And then with strategic and thought about other ladies that
I know in the community who have different skills that
I have, who have similar.

Speaker 3 (24:45):
Skills that I have.

Speaker 1 (24:46):
You know, someone who has a financial background as far as.

Speaker 3 (24:49):
Like bookkeeping and accounting.

Speaker 1 (24:51):
And so I brought them all together that June and said,
all right, here's my idea.

Speaker 3 (24:56):
What do y'all think.

Speaker 2 (25:00):
We'll be right back.

Speaker 1 (25:09):
And so, you know some that are very practical is
I'm just not sure how we're going to get the fly.
You know, we're already thinking like how are we going
to get them where we need to take them?

Speaker 3 (25:16):
And where are we going to do this?

Speaker 2 (25:18):
You need like a hub, right to put all the
flowers into repurposes.

Speaker 3 (25:22):
Where are we going to do it? What are we
going to do?

Speaker 2 (25:24):
So it's the flat fatex of flower.

Speaker 3 (25:27):
Repros, that's right.

Speaker 1 (25:29):
So we met that June, and then speaking of Manguno
again once a small community. I knew that her daughter
Meredith was getting married in September.

Speaker 3 (25:39):
A couple of us name Meredith Flowers to Swipe. So
we were like, this could be our first one.

Speaker 1 (25:44):
This is June, that's in September, let me see if
they're willing.

Speaker 3 (25:47):
To be our guinea pig here.

Speaker 1 (25:48):
So I sent Meredith and I knew Meredith, and I
sent our message and said, hey, we're thinking about starting this.
I know you're wdning since September. Would you be willing
to let us do this, you know, repurpose flowers? And
she says, let me teck with mom. You know she
did immediately came back and said yes. So that gave
us from June until September to figure.

Speaker 2 (26:08):
Out out what we're going to do.

Speaker 3 (26:09):
How are we going to make this happen?

Speaker 2 (26:10):
So do we get them, where do we put them,
where do we do with them? Who do we give
them to?

Speaker 1 (26:14):
Yes, And so we started kind of just making some plans.

Speaker 3 (26:18):
That summer.

Speaker 1 (26:19):
We actually met with a local floral designer who was
going to be hers. His name is John Mark Sharp,
who has built an amazing business that August and he
was so kind met with us and said, well you
should I'm a huge Dollar Tree fan. In my next life,
I'm going to like work in there behind the scenes.

Speaker 3 (26:36):
My Dollar Tree.

Speaker 1 (26:36):
Lets me go behind to get my vases because they
really do have the best faces. So he told us
where you know what kinds of vases to get. Even
their boxes are good for transport. So we purchased those
vases and we planned for and so in that September
of that year, September fourteenth was the alb will always
remember meredess wedding anniversary because that was the night we.

Speaker 3 (26:58):
Picked up at her reception.

Speaker 1 (27:00):
And I actually live in a condo complex and so
we have a big area where you can you can
rent it, you know, to have parties or anything.

Speaker 3 (27:09):
So we actually did the flowers there that night. It
was very easy.

Speaker 1 (27:11):
And that night we did them like at midnight. Now
we didn't do that anymore. We just kind of prep them.
So we didn't we arranged them. We prepared them for
the next day, and then we delivered them that day
to the American Cancer Society's Hope Lodge in Memphis, which
is where adults come to Memphis when they have cancer

(27:32):
treatment here at one of our facilities.

Speaker 3 (27:34):
And then we also delivered them.

Speaker 1 (27:36):
To Page Robin's Adult Day Center because the groom, Meredi's
husband's mother was a volunteer there.

Speaker 3 (27:44):
So that's a unique angle of what we do too.

Speaker 2 (27:46):
Now, how many individual flower I'm gonna call them arrangements, arrangement,
It's OK.

Speaker 3 (27:54):
Good, it's impressive.

Speaker 4 (27:57):
You're a man who does I'm not surprised.

Speaker 2 (27:59):
You know a crap about my pedicure.

Speaker 3 (28:02):
Hey, they keep you from getting in grown tonails.

Speaker 2 (28:04):
It's not really that. It's just that I like clean
feet at Leasta likes clean feet, and candidly I like
have them rubbed on for about twenty minutes. It's fabulous.

Speaker 3 (28:12):
Yep, I'm a believer to you.

Speaker 2 (28:16):
I'm a believer anyway, how many arrangements that first time
out of that just one wedding, were you able to delikh?

Speaker 1 (28:23):
I wish I know top of my head it was park.
I would say I'm a hundred close, which is.

Speaker 2 (28:29):
One hundred relationships you can start to develop one hundred
people you are able to bring the proverbial. It doesn't
matter if it socks or flowers, but one hundred individuals
who are old, lonely, suffering, fighting cancer, or just not
in their happiest place. That somebody that you don't know

(28:51):
gets a small gift. That is, I think you said
the flowers brought you joy, that you were able to
bring joy with the flowers, and then actually we spend
just a few minutes saying hey, we see you, you're heard,
you matter. This is for you.

Speaker 3 (29:08):
Just know your thought about right.

Speaker 1 (29:10):
And then another unique angle of what we do is
we incorporate with each arrangement we have a hainwritten note
that goes with it. So we say, long after the
flowers will wilt, they will still have this note of encouragement.
So we ask the floral donor if they have a
message they would like to include with the card.

Speaker 3 (29:29):
We have the floral donor meaning like.

Speaker 1 (29:31):
The bride, whoever purchases, like the donor whoever gives us
the flowers. So we'll say, hey, Meredith, do you have
a special bibble, verse or quote or inspirational words that
you want us to include, or here's some standard ones
that we do.

Speaker 2 (29:44):
So the floral donor gets to put their own liking,
you can.

Speaker 3 (29:46):
Put their notes.

Speaker 1 (29:47):
So we'll put like, we hope these flowers from our
wedding celebration bring you joy and remind you that you're loved.
And then Meredith or whoever donates, and we'll put them
in there. And then we have a whole team of volunteer,
many of which well I'll touch on this as part
of a story two at different points who may not
be involved in arranging flowers, they may not want to

(30:10):
do something on a regular schedule, but they can write
notes out of their home. Retiree, someone that doesn't live
near We actually have had volunteer. In fact, I have
some friends in Greece and just this week I got
a packet from her son's school. He's even graduated and
he's in college in London, and the school still sent
me a package of notes from Greece for us to

(30:30):
put on the bouquets that the students at that school
in Athens wrote. So it's a way, and it's a
way they can connect. Some of them say greetings from
Greece on them.

Speaker 2 (30:42):
So I understand that first night when you collected those
first flowers at midnight or whatever, that at six thirty
am is when you kind of finish screwing around.

Speaker 3 (30:52):
With these flowers. Not that one that was a month later.

Speaker 1 (30:54):
I had an experienced the nets may where I took
on too much and yeah, stayed up all night.

Speaker 3 (30:58):
But I will never forget.

Speaker 2 (31:00):
You know.

Speaker 3 (31:00):
There was a.

Speaker 1 (31:01):
Quote because like I said, I live in a community,
not senior living, although some people might think it is,
but it used to be seniors there, but it's not now,
it's independent condos, and we were scurrying. This was a
month later. I took on way too much. I mean,
I didn't know, you know, you're learning at this point.
And I stayed up literally until six point thirty. And
I will never forget my I brought in the team.

(31:23):
That next day, we were finishing up and my mom
came over and she says, to the the volunteer friends
of mine, she said, well, you better say one.

Speaker 3 (31:31):
For Stephanie, so when we go visit her in the.

Speaker 1 (31:33):
Hospital, we have one to take to her after not sleeping.
But that day, I'll never forget one of the daughters
of one of my residents, the residents at where I live.
She was older and she lived a couple of hours above.
She since passed away. And I said something to the
effect of, you know, I know, you think I've lost.

Speaker 3 (31:52):
My mind, you know, because here people were in and out.

Speaker 1 (31:55):
We were finishing this up because we had a delivery
that afternoon, and she said, actually, I think you found it.

Speaker 3 (32:00):
And I just thought, wow, like she realized, you know,
what we were doing.

Speaker 1 (32:04):
And on that particular day again I remember very vividly,
we had some a friend who had a daughter who's
a girl Scout, and they came and delivered. And this
was very early, obviously, like a month in and we
weren't formal, We didn't have you know, processes, we didn't
have a website and so but they helped me deliver
that day at a senior living community and my mom
and I went to Baptist Hospice at the hospice home

(32:26):
and did the rest and I have some pictures from
that day because the flowers were just exceptionally beautiful. But
that experience, it was truly holy ground. Going in there
with my mom, who is kind of introverted. You know,
she's not going to be in the front center like
I'm willing to do, but she's gone along to help
me finish up that day and to go into those
rooms and to deliver those flowers to the to the residents,

(32:49):
and oftentimes the family members were right there and it
meant obviously more to them to have that experience was
very powerful.

Speaker 2 (32:58):
So that was four years ago.

Speaker 1 (33:02):
It was actually will we sixth this fall, It was
twenty nineteen, So that was the fall of twenty nineteen.

Speaker 2 (33:07):
You're probably six years uh huh.

Speaker 1 (33:11):
Let me also say I'm probably one of the only
people that would ever say sorry, I'm hitting the table,
probably one of the only people that would say the pandemic.
Obviously not thankful for it, but it was a gift
for this baby nonprofit because it gave us a chance
to pause because we were growing. You know, we had
about six months in.

Speaker 2 (33:30):
That's why I was going to ask you you to start.
You were like six to ten people, right, that's why
you're up till six thirty.

Speaker 3 (33:38):
Cause you didn't know what you were doing.

Speaker 2 (33:39):
Yeah, that's right. And then the pandemic happens and gives
you a chance to say, this thing has wheels, but
we need to reassess how we're doing this.

Speaker 3 (33:48):
Exactly, and it gave us what we did. We pivoted.
Everybody loved that word.

Speaker 1 (33:52):
But we did do We had students that were at
home and so we would have groups that would you know,
in individuals that wanted to do something.

Speaker 3 (33:59):
So we did do some paper flowers.

Speaker 1 (34:01):
That gave us the opportunity, you know, for kids to
have any volunteers, to have something to do that's meaningful service.

Speaker 2 (34:08):
There's not a wedding scorce service.

Speaker 1 (34:10):
There were not many weddings Obviously the wedding stops, I
will say.

Speaker 3 (34:13):
In twenty twenty one, twenty twenty.

Speaker 1 (34:15):
Was hard, but they did pick up a little bit
into you know, every now and then people would have.

Speaker 3 (34:19):
Some and have limited that we picked up with. But
it gave us a chance.

Speaker 1 (34:22):
We did kind of catch our breath because, you know,
at the same time you're doing your operations, you're also
i mean, it's a it's a business, it's a nonprofit,
so you have to have filings. And I had to
file the five O one C three And yes, I'm
a trained attorney, but I'd never done that before and
so I had to figure out I did it. I
had help from someone who'd done it before. But yeah,
so getting you know, because you really need a five

(34:45):
O one C three to raise the funds to pay for.

Speaker 3 (34:48):
The operational expenses.

Speaker 1 (34:50):
So here we're trying to figure out how to form
this organization from a you know, leadership and structure perspective,
at the same time taking the weddings and every.

Speaker 3 (35:02):
Purpose in the farmers.

Speaker 2 (35:05):
We'll be right back. We often say, almost every time
we say that the magic happens when a passion and

(35:29):
an ability intersect with an opportunity of need and you are,
clearly because of your grandparents, passionate about understanding that people
need to be seen, felt an heard, and you saw
an opportunity in a hole to fill and you used
you and your volunteer's talents to fill it. I mean,

(35:52):
that's it. Nobody invited you. You weren't some mega rich
person with some big friend.

Speaker 1 (35:58):
And I'm still looking for those people, by the way
to support us financially. So if they're out there, yes
we will take the funds.

Speaker 3 (36:05):
But the point is, I get it right.

Speaker 2 (36:07):
You saw it and you went after it. And those
six volunteers taking Jenny's daughter's flowers and making sixty to
eighty arrangements, and given you now have how many.

Speaker 1 (36:22):
Volunteers, well, and I was looking at our record last year,
and I would say we probably had more, but we'd
do a pretty good job of keeping up.

Speaker 3 (36:30):
We had like five hundred and eighty individuals who volunteered
with us.

Speaker 1 (36:34):
Many of those come more than once, and some are
just like a student group that might have come. And
then the year before was six hundred and seventeen. So
it's yeah, it's a true army. Yes, I love that word.
And then we celebrated In April of this year, we
delivered our twenty fifth thousandth arrangement.

Speaker 2 (36:53):
Twenty five thousand forget the flowers, twenty five thousand interactions
with people who desperately need human connection, need.

Speaker 1 (37:05):
To be reminded that, yes, you are loved, that someone
thought of you, someone took the time to create this
just for you.

Speaker 2 (37:14):
And twenty five thousand arrangements. I'm just gonna say, if
you went to a florist and bolt an arrangement, I
would say, a decent arrangement or to florish is gonna
be thirty bucks?

Speaker 3 (37:29):
Rye ours aren't that big usually spend?

Speaker 2 (37:32):
What do you think I mean?

Speaker 1 (37:33):
I would say you could at a very conservative like,
we're volunteers. We're not some aer better than others depending
on who's doing it, but we don't care. We love
everybody on the beholder. So if you even did fifteen
or twenty each, look at what.

Speaker 2 (37:47):
That I'm seventeen fifty Okay, all right, So seventeen fifty
Tom's twenty five thousand dollars is almost a half million bucks.

Speaker 3 (38:00):
On a very shoe string budget, let.

Speaker 2 (38:02):
Me tell you, but it's a half million dollars that
would ended up in the garbage that is now brightening yours,
bringing joy to some people and being used as a
vehicle for those people to have further joy with the
human connection, all because you looked up and saw those
followers on your desk and called a buddy.

Speaker 3 (38:23):
Totally simple, It's yeah, very normal.

Speaker 2 (38:25):
Why can't anybody in any city do this?

Speaker 3 (38:28):
They can, and so I'm glad you said that. So
I have.

Speaker 1 (38:31):
There are some other and I'm in a little group
because we found each other. They find us on social media.
There's one in Knoxville, Tennessee called Random Acts of Flowers
that's much larger. We're not there yet. We don't have
any paid staff. We'd love to get.

Speaker 3 (38:45):
There one day.

Speaker 1 (38:46):
You know, it's a balance when you work full time
and all my leaders, it'd be nice.

Speaker 2 (38:50):
For you to have an executive director eventually.

Speaker 1 (38:52):
Yes, I would love to or even start small with
an operation manager because we are limited.

Speaker 3 (38:56):
I mean we have I'm being honest.

Speaker 1 (38:58):
We have more requests then we can take because of
our structure, because we're all volunteers, and we have more
volunteers I mean, our shifts to range and they like
I sent it out last Thursday night and it fills
up immediately. I mean people want the opportunity, they like
doing it. And I will also say what's been unique,
and I was not expecting this, but we have provided

(39:21):
a sense of community within our group, within our organization.

Speaker 3 (39:25):
We call us a community of care.

Speaker 1 (39:26):
But there have been individuals that would have never met
that we're arranging flowers together and have become really good
friends and so doing something for others. There's a mental
health component, not just for the recipients, but also for
our volunteers. And what I also love, I think.

Speaker 2 (39:43):
That's universal in any volunteer.

Speaker 3 (39:45):
Of philanthropic thing, for sure.

Speaker 2 (39:46):
Build a community of like minded people, for sure. And
all of a sudden, race and politics and what's on
Fox and CNN and all the crap, all of a sudden.

Speaker 3 (39:57):
Just doesn't doesn't matter. It doesn't matter because I don't.

Speaker 2 (40:01):
Care how you vote, how you worship, who you love,
or what you look like. If you're going to stand
next to me and clip flowers to help somebody that's
not as fortunates us because you have a good heart,
all of a sudden, don't give a crap about any
of that exactly.

Speaker 1 (40:15):
And then the other thing, this is somewhat unique. I
totally agree with you on that point. Is we are
we really like that we can involve.

Speaker 3 (40:24):
All ages and stages of life.

Speaker 1 (40:25):
So think about nonprofits and you know, usually it's tailored
toward a certain age or group or life experience or
what you're interested in, gender, you know, but we involve children.

Speaker 3 (40:36):
In fact, you know a lot of times when kids.

Speaker 1 (40:38):
Do volunteer work, it's one of these things where they're
drug to do it with their family or their you know.
Now we'll say like ringing the bell, Yes that's important
with the Salvation Army because the kids are an active
part of that. But there are very few opportunities where
the children that are involved have an important role. Let's
just be honest. You know, they're doing it and our world,
they're the most important. When we go into like a

(41:00):
senior living community, yeah, they're happy to see anyone that's
come to see them, But when you see that four
year old, that six year old, that fifth grader, and
how much it is just amazing to see how important
those students, those kids feel because their job is important.
They are important. They're the ones that are knocking on
the doors, they're the ones going in and I love

(41:22):
to see. You know, at first they might be a
little bit timid, you know, because it's.

Speaker 2 (41:26):
It's something unique.

Speaker 3 (41:29):
It is, it's huge.

Speaker 1 (41:30):
I mean, let's think I've not been on my device
and how long now, you know, the kids are on
their devices all day. They're not having interpersonal communication like
we had.

Speaker 3 (41:41):
And it's still not easy, you know.

Speaker 1 (41:43):
And so for them to have to have a conversation
and just a simple hello, I brought these for you.
I'm a girl scout or and to have a small conversation,
you know, a simple conversation, it's huge and they love
it and they're often like we're already finished.

Speaker 3 (41:58):
They love doing it, so that it's been something that I.

Speaker 1 (42:01):
Love that we can truly offer community service opportunities for children,
but we also have opportunities for retirees, for people who
work like me. We have our night owls or a
huge component of what we do. We need people to
pick up the flowers. So really, you tell me what
you want to do, and if you don't like to
arrange flowers, I got a lot of coordinating behind the

(42:22):
scene work that can be done as well. Website www
dot nine o one pop dot.

Speaker 2 (42:28):
Org nine oh one pop dot org pop stands for
pedals about pedals of purpose. Here's something really interesting that
Alex threw in here that I think is very important.
And you know, I don't want to be redundant. But
one of the things that you say you can't live
without as your paper planner.

Speaker 3 (42:50):
Oh yeah, sorry, no.

Speaker 4 (42:52):
I put the whole there.

Speaker 2 (42:53):
Hold it. I will let Alex take it from here,
because he has made fun of me.

Speaker 4 (42:57):
Well, she's also a girl. That's more of a girl
thing to like paper plan I'm impressed.

Speaker 2 (43:01):
I think it is an organation thing.

Speaker 4 (43:03):
Just I'm sure did you use a Google calendar outlook
at all too?

Speaker 3 (43:07):
I really don't use it that much.

Speaker 1 (43:08):
I mean I use it at work a little bit,
just for meetings at work, but like not really.

Speaker 4 (43:13):
Yeah, he doesn't use one at all.

Speaker 2 (43:14):
That's what I'm talking about.

Speaker 3 (43:15):
I'm telling you paper calendar. Oh my gosh, I have
the same one every year, same.

Speaker 2 (43:20):
Formatricity goes out and he doesn't know where to be.
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (43:24):
I can tell you where it is.

Speaker 1 (43:25):
And I've often, you know, keeping international paper silvamo in
business in our community. I often will have printed something. Yeah,
I will have printed out the directions, you know, so
I know where the address is, where I'm going like today,
in the.

Speaker 2 (43:41):
In the in the in the little known book called
Habits of Highly Successful People is paper planners.

Speaker 4 (43:48):
I'm pretty sure there was an whole book that wasn't.

Speaker 2 (43:51):
I don't even think it exists.

Speaker 3 (43:52):
It just made it up, good nineties yeah kind of thing.

Speaker 2 (43:55):
Yeah yeah, But I just want to let you know
I'm a paper planner person too, and the online device
outlook thing, and to be honest with you, nothing works
as well as my paper. My kids make fun of me.
Alex makes fun of me. And when I noticed the
note that you're a paper planner person.

Speaker 3 (44:15):
I thought, well, I'm in good company.

Speaker 2 (44:17):
That's why she's so successful.

Speaker 3 (44:18):
And everything paper planner.

Speaker 2 (44:21):
That's it. Anybody on the board, you want to mention,
that's really so.

Speaker 1 (44:27):
There were six of us started, Yeah, there were six.
I mean they're all we now have their eighteen of.

Speaker 3 (44:33):
Us right now.

Speaker 2 (44:33):
You can't mention six hundred balls.

Speaker 1 (44:35):
I'm not going to mention it, but I will mention
my sidekick. And you know, I've had a lot of
like almost heres. But she we knew each other from
the Junior league Kindred Kindred Spirits, and she and all
the ones who helped start were great, but out of
the six of us, there are two of us now
that are still leading insane. Her name is Alison Fondell,
and we have she has two sons that are one

(44:56):
who's going to college this month and then another one
that's going to be a and you're in high school.
And so she does not work outside the home, but
her schedule is as you know, for those moms that
don't work outside the home, A lot of times my
days are much easier than theirs because my wife sitting
at a desk.

Speaker 2 (45:12):
My wife, my gorgeous, beautiful wife, had three kids in diapers,
almost pregnant. Uh huh. Just consider pages twenty nine six.
And so those who work inside the home should be
celebrated because I would have killed myself.

Speaker 1 (45:33):
So it's been a good balance. So you know, she's
at home during the day and she does a lot.
I mean, we balance, I mean, she's the brain power.
We balance each other.

Speaker 3 (45:42):
I'll tell you like and I love.

Speaker 1 (45:44):
I mean, oftentimes I'll say, where the group think tank
of two because we see the world from pretty much
the same perspective, but we can challenge each other. She
needs to think and process. I'm usually the one that
like quickly will make an answer and move on, But
you did say something earlier I wanted to go back
to really quickly about like using our model. There are
others in this in the country, but since we started,

(46:06):
there have been two groups that have started right after us,
after our model, and one is in fair Hope, Alabama.
It's called Hope Blooms and a lady that used to
live here moved down there. She also had breast cancer,
a unique angle of her.

Speaker 3 (46:22):
Story as well.

Speaker 1 (46:23):
Yes, she started, so Hope Blooms is just less than
a year, probably younger than we are. And then a
friend from college who lives in Clarksville, Tennessee, saw the
power social media.

Speaker 3 (46:35):
She saw it and had.

Speaker 1 (46:36):
Moved back to Clarksville not too long before that and
kind of was at a season in her life where
she could do something, so she also started one called
the Bloom Project in Clarksville, Tennessee. I will say, we
do get requests, you know, to help. So what we
try to do is like answer questions and then have
a couple of times a year offer like a zoom

(46:57):
webinar so that we can answer them, you know, in person,
to make it easier but we're always willing to help
someone that when someone's out.

Speaker 2 (47:03):
There listening to us right now and says, oh my gosh,
I want to do this in my town of Wichita
or Louisville or Phoenix. We got the website. How do
they find you?

Speaker 3 (47:14):
You'll find us on that. You just send us an
inquiry and we'll help connect them.

Speaker 1 (47:18):
We'll answer questions well. Like I said, do a webinar,
do zoom so that they can, you know, learn about us,
learn how we're structured, and then we're happy to help
navigate and tell them what's worked well for us.

Speaker 2 (47:36):
We'll be right back. If you happen to be in
and around this area and you have a banquet, a
wedding or whatever, don't let the flowers go to us.

(48:00):
Get in touch with nine on one Pop and let
them get the flowers. They've got six hundred volunteers waiting
to make people smile and to repurpose your heart spent
money into something very meaningful. How easy is it? Just
called nine on one Pop.

Speaker 4 (48:16):
Is Molly having her wedding here?

Speaker 3 (48:19):
I think we're going to talk about that. No, Dark,
we're not.

Speaker 2 (48:21):
Going to be here. We're going to be a long
way away. Yeah, we're going to be in Vegas.

Speaker 4 (48:26):
Are you serious?

Speaker 2 (48:27):
Absolutely serious? Is that your mutual choice?

Speaker 4 (48:32):
She likes Vegas as much as you know.

Speaker 2 (48:35):
But she Okay, First of all, Molly is they're they're
they're they've joined a church in d C. They're doing
everything right. But like I said, we have all been
to eight years in their weddings. They're all starting to
feel very similar. And Molly is a very unique, independent,

(48:58):
freethinking person.

Speaker 4 (48:59):
She would have loved the big grand wedding.

Speaker 2 (49:01):
We are getting married at the Little White Chapel in
Vegas by Elvis, and we are jumping in the Thunderbird
being driven by Elvis to the reception where everybody will
be in black tie for the celebration. That's what we're doing. Yeah,
I'm actually looking forward to.

Speaker 3 (49:24):
Ready and going to in a while.

Speaker 2 (49:25):
Right, it's gonna be hilarious. And they're they're doing all
their premarital counseling with the with the pastor and everything else,
so it's not like they're just taking a walk on
the wild side. But they want something unique and different,
and this will be the most unique and different wedding
in a while. So sorry, we can't give you any flowers.

(49:47):
That's all right, there'll be some good pictures. So I
bet so there's that, Stephanie. I love your story because
it's something that turns waste into beauty. It uses that
waste as a vehicle for human connection and kindness, and

(50:11):
it's something anybody can do. It can involve any gender,
it can involve ages. I love the idea of girl
Scouts or Brownie Troops doing it, and and it just
crosses all kinds of of of of ability and opportunity.

(50:35):
And I think it's just really interesting that the skill
set that's pulled us all together is the result of
kind of a lifetime that was reset with breast cancer
and a skill set that was born in that lifetime

(50:56):
that then morphed into this. And it feels very purposeful.

Speaker 3 (51:03):
Thank you, thank you.

Speaker 2 (51:05):
It is it feels like, you know, maybe this was
part of the plan through the whole thing. I think. So, yeah,
what else, Alex, same thing from you.

Speaker 4 (51:19):
I'm looking at my notes. I think one thing you
didn't say, is you the idea was almost heaven sent.

Speaker 1 (51:27):
I've said that that was what sent, you know, just
thinking about the grandparents and gosh, Jerry, yeah, you know
the story it just you know, that's that was the catalyst,
and they they were such a special part of my life.

(51:47):
It was it's a way that I can honor them
and do something.

Speaker 3 (51:51):
You know, I will tell you it was.

Speaker 1 (51:52):
Almost an out of body experience when I went back
to Kirby Pines to the room where my grandfather had lived,
and a lady was in there and so I.

Speaker 2 (52:01):
Don't anyway able to give her followers in your grandfather's room.
How cool was that?

Speaker 3 (52:07):
So that was that was really special, you know, to
be able to do that.

Speaker 1 (52:10):
So it's it is, it's it's emotional because I'm passionate
about it because.

Speaker 3 (52:15):
I think it's meaningful work.

Speaker 1 (52:17):
And the stories is I think about the kids and
the stories they can tell you. They will remember those stories,
they will carry that with them, those volunteer experiences.

Speaker 3 (52:26):
I mean, I think.

Speaker 1 (52:26):
About one of my friends whose son was interacting with
a gentleman at the Ave Maria Home who sits down
with them and wants to tap baseball and talk to
him about all the stadiums that he had visited and
showing him the baseballs.

Speaker 3 (52:39):
Charlie will never forget that story. And that's what it's about.

Speaker 1 (52:42):
Is planning those seeds of service at their age and
for our retirees, whatever age and stage you're in, that
makes you want to do and give, to make where
you're planned, and bloom where you're planted, make your world
a better place.

Speaker 4 (52:58):
It's cool about the Heaven send to a lot of
guests have mentioned this, like, this idea just like appears
in your head, like almost it feels like it's sent
from above. And even some of our guests who aren't
you know, of Christian faith have even said this, like
the idea just appears in their head and what do
you do with that? And just our interview this week
that Pam Rosner was talking about you can either listen

(53:20):
to that nudge or you could ignore it. Or some
people don't even hear it at all because they're just
so busy.

Speaker 2 (53:24):
Or still long enough to think through it. Yeah, so
Heaven said, have.

Speaker 4 (53:32):
One more thing, the quote that sums up your life.
That's a good quote you talk about.

Speaker 1 (53:38):
George, And yes, oh my gosh, you're gonna make me
say something that I wasn't even prepared.

Speaker 3 (53:43):
It's I know that quote, but like it doesn't sum
up your life, it does stant my life. But I
like don't have it, you know I do. It's the time.

Speaker 2 (53:53):
Behind the curtains.

Speaker 1 (53:55):
That quote you sorry, I read that quote. It can't
sort through a courage, you can't serve celebut years make.

Speaker 3 (54:03):
Your years count.

Speaker 1 (54:04):
Say it again, don't just count your years, make your
years count. Or as my grandmother would say, and this
was another phrase that I've shared, is you know when
you think about you're too busier, what you do, what
you want to do?

Speaker 3 (54:17):
You make time to do what's important to.

Speaker 2 (54:20):
You true and make time for what's important you do.
So there it is, Stephanie Simpson. Everybody founder and president,
not on one pop pedals of purpose, something that anybody
can do, get involved in. And I will make one
last plea as we close all those old vases in

(54:45):
your attic. For sure they're also repurposeful. And the ability
to continue to do this and grow it wouldn't take
a whole lot of money. So if you're thinking about
where to invest in, a philanthropy actually does some great
bottom up round work work, I'm sure Stephanie would love

(55:06):
to pitch you on not a one bop. Absolutely, yeah,
So that's great, Stephanie, Thanks so much for driving and
telling your story it's awesome and it's a great idea,
and you know what, the thing that makes it really
great is this isn't rocket.

Speaker 3 (55:24):
Service, not rocket science.

Speaker 1 (55:25):
I was about to say, and now often we'll say
is I might get stressed about something like we are
not carrying hearts and coolers.

Speaker 3 (55:31):
They're flowers. It's okay, it's okay.

Speaker 1 (55:33):
And you know if it doesn't look exactly like I
would like it, because I do care.

Speaker 3 (55:37):
I do care with them.

Speaker 2 (55:37):
I'm like, you know what, but you know what, at
the end of the day.

Speaker 3 (55:40):
The person doesn't really Yeah that's right.

Speaker 2 (55:45):
White sox with a ring around the top or not.
It's really the person delivering the socks. Thing's really all about.
That's it, all right, everybody. Stephanie Simpson not on one Pop.

Speaker 3 (55:54):
Stephanie, thanks so thank you so much, Bill.

Speaker 2 (56:01):
And thank you for joining us this week. If Stephanie
Simpson has inspired you in general, or better yet, to
take action by volunteering or donating with nine A one Pop,
or starting something like it in your community, or something
else entirely, let me know I really want to hear

(56:21):
about it. You can write me anytime at Bill at
normal Folks dot us, and I swear to you, I
will respond. If you enjoyed this episode, guys, please share
it with friends and on social help us grow. Subscribe
to the podcast, rate it, review it, Join the army
at normal folks dot us, any and all of these
things that will help us grow an army of normal folks.

(56:45):
I'm Bill Courtney. Until next time, go do what you
can