Even on a snowy, cold spring day that might be some sort of makeup day for the mildest winter in recent memory, warmth can still be found in acts of service.
Every other Thursday, if you’re on the BYU campus, you might see a group pulling a blue wagon passing out beautiful flowers from cylindrical work buckets.
Working with local floral shops, BYU students Carl Huynh, Ashton Chan, Rachel Bolton, Sadie Crandall, Blake Udy and Kaleb Murdock collect flowers to give to unsuspecting individuals on campus to “see them smile.”
Twice a month on Wednesdays, Huynh, who organized Flower Thursdays, treks up and down the state, stopping by numerous floral shops from Logan to Nephi, usually collecting between 150-200 flower donations. One week, the roughly three-hour drive ended in 450 flowers.
In addition to the flowers, bakeries like Crumbl and Lehi Bakery join the fun by donating 300 to 400 cookies before the group passes them out on Thursday.
After Huynh collects all the donations, he invites his friends, family or local church groups to help prepare and package the cookies and flowers.
This process is usually an all-day affair for Huynh. He says it’s worth it.
“It’s a personal moment when you get to give a flower to someone, talk to them and see them smile,” he said.
The idea came when he thought of a time he passed out flowers to every girl at his high school in Eagle Mountain. He said it was marvelous how something as simple as a flower could mean so much to people.
Udy recalled the first time Huynh passed out flowers on campus this year.
“I was hanging out with Carl and Ashton, when Carl said, ‘I want to buy some flowers and just give them out,’” Udy said. “The three of us went to Trader Joe’s and bought a couple bouquets of flowers and handed them out to a couple girls, and then after that, Carl emailed a bunch of flower shops and it grew from there.”
“Sometimes people think we need something in return, but they’re caught off guard when we say, ‘Nope, just take the flower,’” Udy chuckled.
He loves seeing the joy such a simple act can bring into someone’s day.
Some who received the flowers expressed an appreciation for the service. The idea that someone would take the time to organize such an activity means a lot, even in something as simple as a flower.
Others took a flower to give to a significant other, like Zach Grant, who carefully put a rose on the side of his backpack. He said as a college student who is trying to figure out finances, a spontaneous flower that he could give to his soon-to-be wife in 30 days means a lot.
“Sometimes people ask, ‘Why would someone do this?’” Chan said. “We don’t really have a better reason than we wanted to just do something good.”
By the joyful faces that walk away with the flowers, it seems they’re finding success.
Emily Parke, who had just finished a meeting with an adviser figuring out her classes, said her day was “a lot better” after receiving her flower. “It just makes everything feel a little more simple.”
Interactions like these are what makes the day for the flower crew worth it. So far, the group estimates at least 2,000 individuals have received a flower or cookie — a number they want to build on.
Huynh said he wants to see Flower Thursdays grow, but doesn’t want it to feel commercialized. The personal interaction is the most important part, he says.
It’s a balance he seeks to keep as he looks to do something similar in rest homes and other Utah campuses.
“At its core, Flower Thursdays isn’t really about flowers. It’s about helping people feel seen — especially the unseen — and reminding them they are valued and not alone,” he said. “We live in a world where there’s so much pain and so much sadness that something simple like a flower or a cookie can help brighten a day.”
