Help Black Plant Lovers Find A New Home

A lot of people who became aware of the situation that led to the closing of my shop encouraged me to start this GoFundMe and I am not going to lie, it has taken me almost 2 months to do so because as hard as it is for me, I am learning to ask for help.

I started BPL in my home in Sept of 2020 and I grew it to the point where I was invited to open a shop in a shipping container at a Black business incubator space in May of 2022. You can learn more on my website https://blackplantlovers.com

Fast forward to the first week of April 2023 & I walked in and it was over 100 degrees in the shop.

I didn’t share the struggles I had trying to keep the plants (and myself) alive in the shop because it’s just not who I am.

I am the type of person who will put her head down and do everything I can to try to make things work.

Before actually opening the shop, I spent almost a month trying to figure out how to make the space work.

I invested in various ways (a custom heat blind, portable A/C, custom door stop, etc).

Even with all of that I had to come to the shop every day, twice on the days that I was closed, so that I could air it out and release some of the heat to try not to lose plants.

There were also many days when I had to remove the plants from the shop.

It was a huge struggle.

But I kept going.

Because I really loved being able to connect with people sharing something that means so much to me.

But walking into the shop on a 60 degree April day and seeing my temperature gauge register 99 degrees & seeing dried out plants was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back.

And I knew that I could not spend another day struggling & battling the heat in a container that was not ventilated.

So, I reached out to the management and was informed that “After a conversation with leadership, it has been determined that we cannot accommodate the lack of ventilation in some of the boxes in a timeframe that would be conducive for your business”

Obviously that was incredibly disappointing for me.

So, I removed my plants the next day.

It took me weeks to work through my sadness because I worked so hard to make that shop work.

I mean… so so very hard, in ways that adversely affected me physically and mentally.

But while my disappointment remains, I am still determined to bring plants to the hood in an environment that fosters the joy that sharing plant love brings.

So, I am asking for your help.

My Goals:

To acquire funds to secure a new home for Black Plant Lovers that is suitable not only to house plants, planty things & more but to also host classes & events.