The Union County FCE (Family Community Education) Club spent their September meeting at the TVA Fair in Knoxville. We carpooled down and we were provided Free parking passes and Free admission thru UT Extension.

Four of the eight ladies won nice door prizes and had snacks. The program began with a lesson in how to put together a flower bouquet from fresh cut flowers out of your garden.

We learned to pick your flowers early in the morning, pull any leaves off that would be submerged in the vase, add a little White Vinegar or Clorox to kill any possible bacteria. Certain flowers like Zinnas produce bacteria. Members donated flowers and put together 25 plus flower arrangements that were going to be delivered that afternoon.

The guest speaker was Larsen Jay CEO and founder of “Random Acts of Flowers”, based out of Knoxville Tennessee. He use to be in the Entertainment Industry as a TV and Movie Producer.

In 2007 he had a life changing experience when he had a near fatal accident. He had a roof leak on one of his workshops on the North side of Knoxville. He decided to he had to put a tarp onto his roof. He had to make several trips up and down the ladder. About the sixteenth time going up and down the ladder, the bottom of the ladder fell out from beneath him. He fell over one and one-half stories high and landed on his face hitting the concrete and ladder. He broke his nose femur, 10 skull fractures, broken arms and wrist and more. He ended up at the University of Tennessee Medical Center in ICU Trauma where he spent awhile. He went to Patricia Neal Rehab and endured 14 different surgeries. He said this was horrific, but the best thing that ever happened to him, it changed his life.

While in the hospital he received 40-50 gifts of flower arrangements. He described his hospital room as a jungle. When nurses or doctors entered his room, it was a shock to see all the flowers. He could read it on their face.

He was on the 10th floor at UT Medical Center, where there were several patients. I quote “this is the floor where the worst traumatic patients are”, you don’t want to end up there”.

He was stir crazy and wanted to get out of his hospital room, so they loaded him up in a wheelchair and pushed him out into the hallway. He described it as “very institutional” place. He noticed a patient next to his hospital room alone. He had been hearing her agonizing cries of pain. She was alone and in a halo. He grabbed one of his gifts of flowers he had received and took one to her. She sat up and tears flowed down her face. That was the beginning of Random Acts of Flowers (RAF). The light bulb went off and he and his wife Adrian started the 501 c3 non profit exactly one year after his accident.

This is a non profit run by volunteers who collect flowers from: weddings, funerals, stores, churches, etc. and recycle them into beautiful bouquets to be delivered to those in need of a pick me up.

Volunteers collect the flowers, clean used donated vases, arrange the bouquets and deliver them to Hospitals, Nursing Homes and Assisted Living Facilities. Doctors, Nurses and Medical Staff send them the recommendations for recepiants. They do not deliver to homes. They have locally delivered 212,621 flower bouquets, 733,428 Nationally. They have also recycled 783,000 vases. You see this charity located in Knoxville has spread to other cities and nations. Random Acts of Flowers assists anyone anywhere to start a similar charity. Chattanooga is in the process of starting one up.

The Union County FCE Club will be collecting used flower vases to donate to Random Acts of Flowers. If you’d like to donate any vases, please drop them off at the UT Extension Office at 2721 Maynardville Hwy..

The October FCE meeting will be on Friday October 3rd where the club will be hosting the 2025 Heritage Festival Pie and Cake Baking Contest. For more information contact Extension Agent Abbey Thomas 865-992-8038. FCE is open to anyone and meets usually the third Thursday of each month, 10:00 at the UT Extension Office 2721 Maynardville Hwy. behind Guided By Grace. You can bring your children to the meetings, just bring a covered dish. All are welcome. Plans to tour the RAF facility on Middlebrook Pike are in the makings.

Look them up on Facebook.