The Memorial Day Flowers Foundation (MDF) will honor those who bravely served our country by placing flowers in front of headstones. The foundation is returning again to Arlington National Cemetery for Memorial weekend, where the event has taking place since launching in 2012.
Jet Fresh Flower Distributors will continue its annual sponsorship for the fourth year, supporting the foundation as one of the floral farms and importers donating over 10,000 fresh-cut roses each year.
These flowers are to be placed in front of headstones at participating cemeteries nationwide, covering as many grave sites as possible, so that their lives are not forgotten.
Memorial Day Flowers Video Playlist
Our marketing director, Ryan Black serves on the advisory board of the Memorial Day Flowers Foundation. He has filmed and edited footage on the behalf of the foundation for every year that Jet Fresh Flower Distributors has been involved.
The impactful videos which Black has created has helped the foundation grow and expand to more National cemeteries around the country. See the footage from previous years.
How It Works
The Memorial Day Flowers Foundation has volunteers from all over the country coming together for this two-day event.
Day 1 begins on Sunday with the sponsored volunteers unloading flowers from the tracks. Everyone comes together to help unbox them.
The boxes of flowers arrive facing upright in water buckets so that the flowers are already hydrated upon arrival.
First the water is removed from the buckets, then buckets of flowers are placed inside tote bags for the volunteers to carry.
Once the flowers buckets are prepared in their respective tote bags, the registered volunteers will grab a bag to begin laying out flowers in their designated section of the cemetery.
It’s great to see people of all ages participating in this event.
Rain or shine, the volunteers honor the fallen covering as many sections as possible. Headstones are read to remember them for their service while flowers are placed in front.
The goal is for every gravesite to receive a flower.
Memorial Day
On Memorial Day, the foundation also provides flowers to the visitors at Arlington National Cemetery so that they can also place flowers on the grave sites. It’s a very emotional event, and the flowers do a great job at uplifting people as well as giving back to those who are honoring the fallen.
Outreach
The Memorial Day Flowers Foundation has grown this year to reach over 25 National cemeteries. Many wholesalers around the country have joined the cause to provide logistical support, and coordinate the last phase of rose deliveries to the cemeteries.
The support from logistics companies, freight agencies and associations include: Armellini, Asocoflores, ProEcuador, Avianca, CargoMaster and 7000 Logistics & Bouquet Collection.
Sponsors
This year they have new sponsors: Recology which is sponsoring 27,000 headstones at the San Francisco National Cemetery, and Cisco Systems which is sponsoring the Gates of Heaven Cemetery in Los Altos, CA.
The Memorial Day Flowers Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation which was established in 2012 under Washington D.C. law. Thanks to the generosity of private, public, and corporate sponsors, they work with local organizers and volunteers to place roses and other flowers on gravesites at National, Veterans, and Local cemeteries across the U.S.
To participate at a local cemetery, or donate towards the event, please visit MDF for information.
See the full list of participating cemeteries here.
