“Daffodil Days” mean something extra to members of the Newton County committee.
For the past 35 years, the American Cancer Society has sold the sunny spring flowers as a symbol of hope, and for most of those years someone in Neosho has worked with the program, but it’s those extra touches that gives this event a special hometown pride.
Janice Wood is the ACS Newton County Daffodil Day chair. She has helped in the past, but this year she took all the orders and made follow-up phone calls.
“It takes weeks to take in all the orders and get it all arranged,” Wood said. “We came on Sunday and cut the flowers and put them in water so they would bloom out and be pretty for today.”
Some areas don’t do the prep work that this committee puts in, but just count and send out the stems.
“We do some special things,” Wood said. “When you buy a bear and a bouquet, all American Cancer Society sends you is a bear and 10 flowers, so we devised this little system here where we put the flowers in water and a paper towel and then we bought plastic and a vinyl tablecloth.”
Last year’s bears held flowers wrapped in bright green tissue, but the tablecloth won’t get soggy and drip color like last year’s tissue paper did. They added baby’s breath to each group of flowers and bring vases from home for orders of just flowers to make them look like a real bouquet.
“We try to make them look like they have a personal touch to it,” said Donna Hood.
Hood chaired the committee last year and is pleases they topped last year’s figures. This year they raised just under $2,000. Boxes filled with daffodil arrangement surrounded Wood and the other volunteers.
“One reason we do daffodils is because it’s the first flower of spring and it stands for hope,” Wood said.
Her involvement stems from a personal close call.
“My daughter had cancer three years ago,” she said. “Every one of us has been affected by cancer. Everybody knows somebody.”
Bo Mahr, president of the Neosho High Key Club, turned out with about a dozen fellow club members to distribute the flowers.
“As far as I know we’ve been doing this for a really long time,” Mahr said.
Beside the Key Club, First Baptist Church, Fausett Greenhouse, Neosho Gifts Etcetera and Price Cutter also helped out. Yvonne Patrick bought a vase and a bear. Her 12-year-old son brought the fundraiser to her attention.
“I just think it is a good thing,” Patrick said.
Neosho, Mo. —
