Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.
A couple of Oahu florists plan to invest in community goodwill by giving part of their inventory away. Florists will give
away roses WednesdayRecipients are requested to
continue the giving on Good
Neighbor Day
By Mary Adamski
Star-BulletinBeretania Florist in Honolulu and Picket Fence in Kailua will observe Good Neighbor Day Wednesday by distributing free roses on a first-come, first-served basis.
There's a catch for the recipients: They're expected continue the giving.
"I think it's a great idea," said Howard Nakamoto, owner of Beretania Florist. It's the fifth year that he and his wife, June, will distribute 15,000 roses in bunches of a dozen at their three locations.
"It's one way to give back to the community," said Picket Fence owner Sadie Akamine-Wolfe. "My business is about love." She's in it for the fifth year, too, and will distribute 5,000 roses by the dozen.
People who will pick up flowers will be asked to keep one and give the others away to 11 different people with the idea of renewing a friendship or making a new one, Nakamoto said.
The idea was started by a florist in Jackson, Miss., who thought his community was losing its neighborliness, Akamine-Wolfe explained. Florist Transworld Delivery has promoted the idea throughout the country.
"We get calls about how one rose made a change, broke the ice, strengthened a friendship," Nakamoto said.
"A lot of ours go to care homes and to teachers," Akamine-Wolfe said. "I heard back from some people who have made amends over a fence dispute. It works."
But the two business owners said they don't know of any other florist participating in the Good Neighbor Day promotion.
A spokesman for one of Honolulu's largest florists said "some can't afford it.
"We have in the past," said the businessman, who asked that his shop not be named. "There was such a monstrous response that we ran out in less than an hour. Then you face antagonized people who came too late."