Students Spread Love To Seniors, One Bouquet At A Time

SOUTHOLD, NY — Students who return back to school on the North Fork soon will have a heart-touching answer to the question, "What did you do on your summer vacation?"

A group of caring students teamed up with Superintendent of Southold and Greenport Schools David Gamberg this summer to spread sunshine to seniors in the community, one bouquet at a time.

"It’s a very, very simple idea designed to bring love and joy to others. With both Greenport and Southold Schools having an abundance of beautiful flowers growing in their school gardens, why not make simple flower bouquets and deliver them to senior citizens, or to those who are homebound?" Gamberg asked.

(David Gamberg)

Gamberg, who is a self-professed avid gardener, taught students to grow and arrange flower bouquets. On July 31 and again this week, Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps and Honor Society students recruited by NJROTC instructor Major Bill Grigonis delivered the bouquets.

Following a crash course in how to make floral arrangements, the students delivered the flowers to homebound residents in Southold, Greenport and Orient; with the help of Karen McLaughlin and Jacqui Martinez at the Southold Town Human Resource Center, the first batch of flowers was delivered to about six residents as a way to get the program started. Arrangements were also made to deliver some flowers to residents at Peconic Landing.

“This is such a great way for our students to show their ongoing commitment to help serve in their community," Southold High School Principal Terence Rusch said.

Greenport Honor Society teacher advisor Ozlem Artukmac added, “This is such a great way to make intergenerational connections between our students and the senior citizens of our respective communities."

Jeanne McInnis, another Greenport teacher who volunteered to help with the program, arranged to have elementary school children write notes to accompany the bouquets.

(David Gamberg)

"We need to continually provide students with real, authentic learning that connects them with our local community," Rusch added. "This type of learning extends outside of the classroom and not only brought joy to those community members who need it, but also showed our students the importance of helping others."

Grigonis said supporting the flower project aligned with the NJROTC goal of citizenship development.

"The cadets from Southold and Greenport schools that supported this event had fun. You could see that they were doing something creative, learning a new skill that they would most likely not learn during the school year — and were also being taught all of this by their own Superintendent of Schools," he said. "What was truly amazing is that we were able to have the cadets work with younger students from the elementary school, as well. It goes a long way in making the cadets feel more pride and ownership of their school. We need more of these types of activities in our schools."

Gamberg reflected on lessons learned: "The concept of giving, without any expectation for something in return, is so important and is perhaps one of the more valuable lessons for students in this flower project," he said. "Bringing a smile to a senior citizen is a way of acknowledging our elders. It shows respect and caring, also valuable life lessons for our students. In a similar way, our seniors feel appreciated and recognized, not invisible, as our neighbors in our community."

One of the seniors who received flowers in July sent Gamberg a note, writing, "It brightened my day, when my day had begun gloomy."

Bouquet making, down the line, can lead to many other benefits including, but not limited to, the establishment of relationships, should the process recur at regular intervals over time — with fresh flowers are delivered on a weekly basis, Gamberg said.

(David Gamberg)