ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — The flowers left at a West Asheville mural honoring Dolly Parton didn’t stay there for long.
Instead, they found their way into 169 bouquets delivered to people across Western North Carolina.
Volunteers with Blooms of Kindness collected the flowers from the mural at Beauty Parade on Haywood Road and added them to the organization’s regular supply of donated blooms.
By Monday, the bouquets had been delivered to seven locations, according to Blooms of Kindness’ Cathy McDonald.
Six bouquets went to Presbyterian Senior Home, 25 to Deerfield Episcopal Retirement Community, 10 to Haywood Street Respite, 38 to The Laurels of Summit Ridge (now Grove Park Health and Rehabilitation) and 10 to Mission Children’s Hospital.
Another 40 bouquets went to the North Carolina State Veterans Home and 40 to DaVita Arden Dialysis.
The flowers were among the many left by Asheville residents and visitors at the mural following Parton’s death.
The mural, painted by artist Gus Cutty on the side of Beauty Parade at 783 Haywood Road, depicts Parton alongside drag queen and media personality RuPaul. In the days after Parton’s death, the mural became a gathering place for people paying tribute to the country music star.
McDonald said the idea of collecting the flowers came after she saw a similar effort by Blooms of Kindness’ sister organization, Random Acts of Flowers, in Knoxville.
She contacted Beauty Parade, the organization behind the mural, and arranged for volunteers to collect the flowers.
The first pickup was made Sunday morning.
McDonald took the flowers home before bringing them to Blooms of Kindness’ Asheville arranging site Monday morning, where volunteers turned them into bouquets.
Blooms of Kindness collects donated flowers and vases from a variety of sources. The organization has partnerships with local grocery stores, including Harris Teeter and Trader Joe’s, and also collects flowers from weddings and local farms.
A local farm, Grateful Farms, recently donated buckets of zinnias that were being used to make bouquets.
The organization assembles bouquets once a week in Asheville and once a month in Hendersonville before delivering them to senior homes, respite facilities, veterans centers, assisted living facilities and other locations.
The group is entirely volunteer-fueled, McDonald said. Board members serve on committees and help with the work of collecting, arranging and delivering the flowers.
One of the organization’s biggest needs is volunteers who can pick up flowers from weddings, venues and other locations.
“It’s fun,” McDonald said. “You’re giving back to the community.”
For McDonald, collecting the flowers from the Parton memorial seemed especially fitting.
“I thought about the flowers, and I thought, you know, this is exactly how Dolly Parton would have wanted it,” she said.
The flowers that began as tributes at a West Asheville mural ended up scattered across the region, in the hands of people who could enjoy them for a little while longer.