Roses for Residents, Flowers and Visits for Austin Elders
The flowers are just the permission slip to build a meaningful relationship.
A single rose. A shared legacy. Roses for Residents was born from a childhood tradition of hand-delivering roses on Valentine's Day, so that no one feels forgotten.
We hand each one out and make the residents feel seen, and talk to them if they are up to it. We build imprint based relationships and keep coming back, giving elders the opportunity to tell their story and us the privilege of hearing it.
People are so used to wanting something from them, it's a huge surprise when they are receiving a gift.
Part of the SymbioHaven ecosystem.
The flower is the doorway
Twenty minutes, or an afternoon
A small bouquet on a side table is a good thing and it is over in a second. What it buys is a reason to walk into a room, hand something over, and stay.
Most people in these buildings have not been asked a question about their own life in a month. That is not because nobody cares about them. It is because the staffing model has no hour in it for that, and it is never going to.
The hour is what we bring. The flowers are how you walk in carrying something.
Some of that is assisted living and memory care. Some of it is an elder on their own street that nobody has knocked for in a while. It is the same run either way.
What Roses for Residents does
Four things, all built on the same schedule.
Rose runs
The same people, coming back
Flowers off an event, made into small bouquets, handed out one at a time. One run is a nice gesture. The third run is when somebody knows your name.
Legacy letters
Stories that travel forward
With permission, we write down what a resident tells us about their life and give it to their family. Most families work out what they wanted to ask too late.
Memory care presence
Short visits, on the same schedule
A visit does not have to be remembered to have happened. You can have a good ten minutes with somebody and both of you can let it go.
Intergenerational connection
Both directions
Kids come on runs. An eleven year old asking a ninety year old a real question does something for both of them that neither was going to get anywhere else that week.
How it keeps running
Why we drive at night
Flowers need water fast after an event, so we pick them up the night the event ends.
What it runs on
Flowers from events, people who show up, and the Stewardship Fund, which gets ten percent of every SymbioHaven sale.
A regular route
We come back on a schedule each community can plan around, with the same faces each time.
Two different jobs
Making bouquets and visiting with residents are different jobs. Volunteers pick the one they enjoy, and plenty do both.
What a run looks like
After the event, the flowers get sorted right on the venue floor and broken down into small bouquets. Every bouquet is different, made from whatever came off that event. We hand them out one at a time, at the front desk, in rooms, and at elders' own front doors.
Some visits turn into an hour of family history. Some are a bouquet on the table and sitting together quietly. Both are good visits.
How we work with facilities
We set dates with each community's staff ahead of time, follow their visiting rules, and send the same people each time, so the visits are easy on the staff and familiar to residents.
Flowers, bouquets, and the people making them
Photographed only with permission from the resident or their family. The default is that nothing is taken and nothing is posted.
Get involved
Get in touch.
Care communities
If your residents would get something out of flowers and an afternoon of company on a schedule, start here.
Event venues and florists
If you have flowers after your events, we'll come pick them up. We collect the same night and we work around your breakdown.
Volunteers
Come on one run. You can make bouquets or you can sit and listen, and we will ask which one you want. Coming back a second time is worth more than anything else you can give this.
Families
If someone you love is in a facility or on their own at home and you want their stories written down while they are here to tell them, we do that.
Help fund the runs
Your support helps us reach more residents and keep coming back. Reach out and we'll tell you how to help.
Where this sits
This is company and flowers. Medical care, clinical memory therapy and anything needing a license belong to the professionals already working inside these buildings, and they are good at it.
What we add is the hour their staffing model cannot pay for, and a face that comes back next month.
Connect with Roses for Residents
Run a care community, have flowers going in a dumpster after your events, want to come on a run, or want somebody's stories written down. Start here. Use the contact form, or call (512) 808-0153.
Send a message
Whether it is a service, a collaboration, a question, or something you are not sure how to describe, say it here and we will come back to you. If it is quicker, call or text (512) 808-0153.
Got it. We will come back to you. If it is urgent, call or text (512) 808-0153.
That did not send. Call or text (512) 808-0153 or email catalyze@symbiohaven.com and it will reach the same place.
A name and a message are needed. Everything else is optional.
Isolation → Belonging