As Valentine’s Day 2021 neared, florist Ashley Manning got to thinking about how hard the holiday must be for widows experiencing grief. So she sent bouquets to women in her area who had lost their husbands. As hearts were lifted, a tradition bloomed.
Valentine’s Day 2021 was approaching, and Ashley Manning was busy designing her floral arrangements. The Charlotte, North Carolina, mom of four had started making them during the Covid-19 quarantine as a hobby, but it quickly grew into a thriving home-based business, Pretty Things by A.E. Manning. Ashley was deeply grateful for her success and wanted to give back.
Suddenly, Ashley found herself thinking about her 4-year-old son’s preschool teacher, Kathy Evans, who, early in the school year, had shared that she’d lost her husband to cancer a few years back. Like she often did for family and friends, Ashley had sent Kathy a bouquet of flowers. Now, her heart ached as she realized what a heartbreaking holiday Valentine’s Day is for so many people like Kathy, who have lost their beloved spouses. And an idea blossomed in Ashley’s heart.
I’d like us to think about people who Valentine’s Day is hard for. For every arrangement you buy, I will donate one, Ashley told her customers on social media.
Hope for all on Valentine’s Day
The response was swift and enthusiastic. Customers bought lots of flowers and made monetary donations to help cover the cost of the bouquets to be gifted. Soon, Ashley and some 70 volunteers were making arrangements on her front porch, then delivering bouquets of love to widows. The response was heartwarming. “I think I’m going to cry,” a 90-year-old woman told Ashley when she received her flowers.
That event became the Valentine’s Day Widow Outreach, and it has grown exponentially. In 2022, 400 bouquets were delivered, and last year, 800 people volunteered at the festive two-day event, which began with a truckload of flowers being delivered to Ashley’s house. Volunteers processed tens of thousands of stems to make arrangements. Along with a bouquet, recipients received a gift bag with donated jewelry.
“I felt like it came from Heaven,” one widow gushed.
Community of caring
It’s not just the recipients who are uplifted by the project. The happiness and goodwill felt by volunteers are tangible. Some people who miss the registration deadline will contact Ashley and say, “I know you’re out of spots for tomorrow, but can I just come and be there?” Many volunteers are widows themselves and are happy to focus on helping someone else smile on what is a difficult day, Ashley says.
Jillian Myers, 41, a mother of four, lost her husband, Jason, a meteorologist for a television station, in a tragic helicopter accident on November 22, 2022. Ashley knew many people would nominate Jillian for a bouquet come Valentine’s Day 2023. But before that could happen, Jillian contacted Ashley and volunteered to be part of the Widow Outreach project.
“Ashley meets a critical need in the lives of people who have gone through tragic loss,” says Jillian, who helped relieve other women’s heartache and received her own Valentine’s Day gift from Ashley last year. “I feel like I still have so much love to give, and I don’t have my person. It’s beautiful for me to be able to give out some of that love to others who are also hurting.”
The project has now spread beyond Charlotte to five other cities: Dallas, Nashville, Buffalo, Minneapolis and the Pittsburgh area, where Ashley’s sister, Lisa Kostelnik, is leading the charge. Ashley’s hope is that the program will eventually be nationwide. “Valentine’s Day is a day these ladies used to dread, and now it’s a day that they receive these generous gifts and think, Gosh, somebody does love me and care about me,” says Ashley. “I hope that we continue to care for the people in our community, and I hope they always know they are loved—beyond Valentine’s Day.”
