Horticultural sector and Ali B treat lonely elderly people to fabulous flowers

In an initiative by the Dutch horticultural sector and Dutch rapper Ali B, around 150,000 elderly people in care homes and who live alone and receive homecare in The Netherlands are being surprised today - Good Friday - with a colourful bouquet.

It has been all hands on deck in recent days to prepare for the national floriculture campaign ‘Working together to combat loneliness amongst the elderly’. Thousands of flowers have been harvested, fabulous bouquets have been made up and packaged, and logistics and transportation have been prepared. Senior citizens organisation ANBO has provided the addresses of the nursing homes and care home locations where flowers would be welcome. The trucks are going out on the road today to deliver the bouquets to the elderly with a message of love and hope. The flowers will be handed out by Ali B and local heroes. They will be closely followed by the media, who have been taken by the enthusiasm with which the rapper announced the campaign last Saturday.

Flower campaign as support

The coronavirus crisis has resulted in many elderly people becoming isolated. A large number of businesses in the horticultural sector have come together to do something about their solitude at this time. With this flower campaign they are showing senior citizens that they have not been forgotten. Despite the heavy blows that the sector has suffered, it wants to make a difference and highlight the fact that you can still make lots of people happy with flowers and plants. It is urging consumers to also get involved and give an attractive bouquet or plant to elderly people who could value such a kind gesture at this difficult time. Now is the perfect time to work together to combat loneliness!

Companies in the sector joining together

A broad coalition of companies from the Dutch floriculture sector, ANBO and Ali B are working on this campaign. They are making a contribution in the form of product, transportation, logistics or financial contribution to make this campaign a great success. The campaign will be linked to the theme of ‘Let Hope Bloom’ and #lethopebloom through Mooiwatbloemendoen.nl and social media.