Stories of Kindness

Every once in a while, someone comes along whose heart and story changes your own.

Maggie Hartman has left a beautiful mark on my heart and I expect she’ll do the same for you.

For nearly ten years, Maggie has been selling flowers to raise money to buy Christmas gifts for those in need in her community. Last year, she donated over 550 presents to people in her community who wouldn’t otherwise receive a holiday gift.

Maggie just turned fifteen.

Your math is correct: Maggie has been growing and selling flowers since she was five years old.

Maggie shares, “I started my business when I was 5 years old because I wanted to go hang gliding on a family vacation to North Carolina later that year. It would cost $100 for me to go and my parents didn’t have that money just for me. We started brainstorming ways that I could make enough money to go. I always loved getting flowers when my Mom, Grandma and I would go to the farmers market, so we decided that I could sell flowers. My Papa made me a flower stand and we put it outside of our house. That year, I made $200 so my Dad and I went hang gliding with my Papa. The next year, I loved growing and selling flowers and I wanted to do something meaningful with the proceeds. That’s how we came up with the idea to buy gifts for kids in need.”

That year, Maggie bought 30 toys and adopted one family through a local food pantry. Since then, she has continued growing flowers to purchase Christmas gifts for those in need.

Last year was Maggie’s ninth year raising money with her flowers and buying gifts for others. In addition to her local food pantry, she now also provides for a local nursing home, a mobile food pantry, her entire school district and 3 local families she adopts who could use the help during Christmas time.

Maggie supports two events with her school district. At the first event, principals at all 12 schools in the district extend an invitation: parents who could use some extra help during Christmas are invited to shop from donated gifts, picking out a present for each of their children.

Later in the season, Maggie supports the second gift drive when High School Students in need are invited to come pick out presents for their entire family.

But Maggie’s generosity doesn’t stop there. Each holiday, Maggie receives wish lists from the resident’s at her local nursing home. She uses the funds she raised selling flowers to shop for special gifts for each resident. Then, she hand delivers every gift during the annual Christmas party at the home.

Maggie shares, “I have been purchasing gifts for them for six years and I have been able to have a relationship with a lot of them. I see them at Christmas time and I also see them during the summer when I pass out flower bouquets to them.”

Throughout the summer, Maggie grows flowers in gardens at her family’s home. She currently has eight different gardens, with hopes and plans to expand even more this summer. While she grows an abundance of perennials and annuals, she admits that dahlias are her favorite.

And it’s because of dahlias that Maggie and the Growing Kindness project are now connected. After a tough winter, Maggie shared on social media that she’d lost all of her dahlia tubers. We knew the beautiful work Maggie was doing in her community and immediately send her a box of dahlia tubers to get her back up and running.

Maggie sells her flowers at six different roadside stands, various markets, through subscription orders, special event flowers in her community of Dorr, Michigan. She also provides flowers all season long for her local Chick-Fil-A. Each week, Maggie includes a specially tagged “Growing Kindness” bouquet in her stands and markets. Anyone who finds the bouquet is asked to give it someone who could use some extra kindness that day.

In addition to her flower business and generous gifting, Maggie manages to not only keep up, but excel at school. Though just starting high school this year, she’s already taking honors level classes along with Advanced Placement US History. Her dream is to go to HOPE college in Holland MI to become a high school or middle school history teacher.

She admits its a lot of work to do all that she does, but also believes its worth every bit of effort. “It’s definitely a lot of work to run a business and go to school, but I always think about all of the people who will have a better Christmas and it motivates me to keep going even when I’m super tired. Maggie’s Flowers has changed my life in so many ways. I would not be the same person if I didn’t do Maggie’s Flowers. I’ve had so many incredible opportunities to make people’s lives better and it has truly made my life better too.”

Maggie is proving that we kindness knows no age or no bounds. Thank you, Maggie, for renewing our hope in tomorrow, demonstrating how to lead with kindness.

To learn more about Maggie’s story or to make a donation to her business, please visit @maggies_flowers or www.maggiesflowers.org.

When Ganjana was a young teenager, she immigrated to the US from Thailand with her twin sister so they could be near their mother who had to relocate to receive treatment for cancer. When their mother suddenly passed away, Ganjana and her sister were essentially on their own to care for each other as orphans and immigrants. After a childhood of trauma and the loss of her mother, then suddenly being catapulted into adulthood in a foreign country, Ganjana began struggling with what would later become debilitating anxiety.

Years and years later, Ganjana was volunteering at her local food bank where she was also a client. It was the Holiday distribution when, along with the standard weekly provisions, recipients are also given all the trimmings for a holiday meal. When she finished her volunteer shift helping to stock shelves and took her turn to collect her own groceries, she was handed a floral holiday centerpiece. It moved her to tears. She later shared that she stood in disbelief and asked herself, “Who does this? Who gives flowers like this? I have to meet this person. I have to be involved with this.”

Because the centerpieces included the Growing Kindness bouquet tag, she was able to look up the project and signed up to be a member right away. Ganjana planted her first flower garden that spring. The GK project was beside her, step by step, to help her learn to grow, harvest and design flowers. With flowers in hand, Ganjana began slowly, bravely reaching out in her community. Stem by stem, growing and giving flowers brought healing and gave her a tool and mission that helped her not only connect in her community but is helping her overcome anxiety.

The next year, Ganjana later applied and was accepted as a 2021 Ambassador. Being a part of the team brought her into even more community, connection and support. Ganjana made friends with members across the world including Sally, from England, who is now her best friend.

Ganjana is currently an Ambassador Alumni and continues to grow and share flowers in her community and build connections and friendships through the GK team.

In addition to gifting flowers with neighbors and community members who are going through difficult times, Ganjana also now donates flowers to the Stanwood Camano Food bank where she first received flowers in kindness.

Ganjana’s example and story beautifully illustrates that we truly have no idea how a single act of kindness can change a life. Likewise, we can never underestimate the power of having a purpose and a sense of belonging.

Our mission, as an organization, is to bring this same kindness, hope, and belonging to all of our team members as we empower them to grow and give flowers in their neighborhoods and communities all across the world.