A group of local florists have volunteered to make flower arrangements for the funerals of the victims killed during the Texas elementary school massacre last week.
The owner of At The Flower Patch, located in the city of Uvalde where the tragedy took place, confirmed that the store will create arrangements for all 19 students and the two teachers who lost their lives after a gunman entered Robb Elementary School and opened fire before he was shot and killed by responding law enforcement officers.
“Most arrangements take a good 30 to 45 minutes a piece to make,” said store owner Kelly Baker. “We are making thousands.”
She also revealed plans to set aside sunflowers for one of her high school classmates who lost a daughter in last Tuesday’s (May 24) shooting.
“As we start making these arrangements, we’re going to make sure and save sunflowers for this baby so that her family gets just a tiny bit of what she wanted — or what she would have wanted — for her service,” Baker confirmed.
Funeral services for the victims are set to begin this week and will continue up through mid-June. The flower shop is located beside Rushing-Estes-Knowles Mortuary, Inc. where most of the services for the victims of the shooting will take place.
Baker recalled receiving an outpour of support from people all over. She also reflected on help from people driving in from neighboring Texas cities to lend a helping hand.
“We’ve probably got about 12 people in there right now designing behind the scenes that y’all don’t see,” she shared. “And they’re all volunteering from all over the world.”
One florist, Veronica Berger, took about an hour drive down to help in the wake of the tragedy.
“Florists are the only ones who know how to get through this,” Berger expressed. “It is very hard work but it’s very fulfilling. When this tragedy happened, we knew exactly what we needed to be doing.”