Daffodils sprout predicament
Abundance of flowers arriving earlier than usual creates crunch for cancer society
Shane Magee
Northern News Services
Friday, March 27, 2015
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Mother Nature has provided a complication for a territorial charity, prompting a call for volunteers to sell flowers that are arriving early.
Nikki Grobbecker, revenue development co-ordinator with the territorial chapter of the Canadian Cancer Society, holds up the pins the society will be selling in April along with daffodils as part of its annual fundraising campaign. - Shane Magee/NNSL photo |
The Canadian Cancer Society sells daffodils starting in the first or second week of April as a national fundraiser. The thousands of flowers sold by the territorial chapter are grown in British Columbia which has experienced record setting high temperatures this winter.
"The weather has just been so nice that the daffodils are growing quicker than expected," said Nikki Grobbecker, revenue development co-ordinator with the society's local branch. "So now the daffodils are coming early."
The bright yellow flowers will be going on sale starting this weekend.
A shortage of volunteers has left the charity scrambling to find people to sell them.
It's a tricky time to get volunteers, Grobbecker said, as people are out of town for March break and others are volunteering with the Long John Jamboree.
Grobbecker said she's still seeking 10 to 15 people to help sell the flowers at locations in the city this weekend and during the daytime next week.
The charity will receive 108 boxes of the flowers containing about 54,000 individual flower stems for sale in Yellowknife, on par with last year.
The flowers are usually sold in five locations around the city including Trevor's Your Independent Grocer, the Co-op, Walmart, the downtown liquor store and the old flower shop in Centre Square Mall during the work week.
The money from the flower sales goes to funding cancer research and provide support to cancer patients, according to the society's website.
Despite the predicament, she's looking at the bright side when it comes to the timing of the arrival of the flowers.
"Hopefully with Easter coming up, it will be a nice selling point," she said.
Easter Sunday is April 5.
