GREELEY (AP) – Flowers, just like milk, have an expiration date, and that made Terra Seyler sad. Flowers brought a lot of joy, the kind she worked hard to spread to others.
She and her parents, Mike and Charlese Seyler, began to see the potential in those flowers. When she was a senior in high school, Terra talked to Bev Wright, floral manager for the Hillside King Soopers, and asked if she could take the flowers to an assisted living home instead of throwing them away.
Her parents helped her gather the flowers and load them in the car. Sometimes, the whole back end of the car would be stuffed with expired flowers.
Terra then drove them to homes all over Greeley. She rotated among the assisted living centers and A Women’s Place, a local shelter for victims of domestic abuse. Sometimes it took a couple of hours. Eventually, Wright began to call them when there was a bunch of flowers headed for the dumpster. Usually, she called at least once every two weeks.
“It’s wonderful for us,” Wright said. “This way they get used, and it gets our name out there a bit.”
“The thing about it is, it’s not a huge deal,” Terra said. “It’s just a little time, and it’s something that brightens their day.”
Terra is now at her first year at Colorado State University, and she’s struggling to find a balance between helping others, working and studying. It’s a little overwhelming. She’s already thinking about changing her plans to attend vet school.
“I have to find my niche,” Terra said.
That means Terra doesn’t have the time to take the flowers around as much any longer. Yet Wright has heard that other King Soopers stores are trying to find places for their expired flowers. Terra hopes it continues.
“Those places look forward to it now,” Terra said. “People don’t have to specifically help me, but maybe if they just did it in their own way.”
Charlese wants to keep it going too. She’s hoping for volunteers. She’s also glad that her daughter is working to find time for college.
“As she gets older, she’ll find that common balance we all have to have,” she said.
Terra hopes to find it soon. Her hard work has taught her that there’s always a need for more joy.
