What Cheer Flower Farm Capital Fund

The inspiration for the What Cheer Flower Farm grew from the seeds of kindness. Anne Hills Holland, Board President and Co-Founder explains, “A few of us had small personal cutting gardens…like all gardens in August, we had too many flowers. Rather than watch them fade, we started making and giving away bouquets to elderly neighbors, and the outpouring of joy and gratitude was overwhelming.” Anne, moved by the emotional reactions and lovely, long letters she received in response, continued to seek out and gift flowers to the elderly, hospitals, nursing homes, shelters, food pantries, youth centers, and to anyone in need of healing.

Five years ago, in order to give away a steady, yearround supply of bouquets across the state, Anne co-founded the What Cheer Flower Farm. Some of the Farm’s flowers come by way of ‘rescue,’ gathering and repurposing unsold stems from local floral retailers and wholesalers, keeping them from landfills. However, the larger portion of blooms are grown on the Farm’s own land in Olneyville, a designated environmental justice neighborhood in Providence. In pursuit of their purpose to spread solace, joy, and healing through flowers, the Farm acquired the land at half price, but with the acreage came a 70,000 square foot derelict factory building. With the help of the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, the Farm is in the process of demolishing the “big scary building,” and remediating the land to eliminate and cap dangerous materials from former metals manufacturing.

The goal for the What Cheer Flower Farm Capital Fund is to assist with remediation and rebuilding, making way for an additional two acres of flower fields, a larger capacity processing center, with more space for people to make bouquets and create flower-based art, community gardens to serve local residents, and a Floral Academy, to offer paid apprenticeships and retail management classes for those seeking floral careers. When asked why What Cheer chose to partner with the Foundation, Anne replies “We are both statewide organizations who help Rhode Islanders…we all support each other in Rhode Island.”

Today, the Farm grows, rescues, and gives away 100,000 flowers a year in collaboration with community partners, and the positive ripple effects are exponential. Says Anne of What Cheer’s mission “Flowers are healing. Giving someone a bouquet acknowledges their worth. It says ‘You matter. You deserve beauty. You are cared for.’ It feels good to provide joy.”