Celebrating Muskogee Area Moms, One Flower at a Time.

If you know me, you may know that over the last few years, I have made it a mission to give out several Mother's Day flowers and balloons to people in the community, especially my hometown of Taft, OK, and to assisted living facilities here in Muskogee, OK.

How it started: like many, I have presented flowers to women in my family and a few neighbors, as well as mothers and sisters of my friends. Then I lost my mother, Emily Malone, a few days after Mother's Day 2016.

The first change was in 2017, the year after I lost my mother. I no longer had my mother, and I was still feeling some kind of way. The only thing I could think of was to continue making other mothers smile. I just extended my list a little bit. Not much.

The second change was in 2020. I was president of the men's group at my church, Flipper Chapel, A.M.E. Taft, OK. And every year we gave flowers to all the mothers in the church. Well, in the first season of COVID-19, we were no longer having in-person services. So, there was a discussion of what to do about Mother's Day.

At this point, I volunteered to pick up the flowers and deliver them to the porches of our member mothers. It was at this point, as I was passing by the homes of other mothers that I knew, that I realized so many others would not get flowers or any personal visits from family, as they usually would.

So, back to Walmart I went, for about 8 dozen more flowers that I delivered to all the homes I knew or suspected had mothers. Even caught a couple of fathers off guard. There was no fanfare; didn't want to expose people, just give them a reason to smile. Now, if you know Taft, it is very small. A funny thing happened during deliveries. I hadn't actually greeted anyone; I just left the flowers on a windshield or porch. After several drop-offs, my mobile phone rang. Busted, I had been captured on a couple of Ring cameras. People wanted to know who was driving up and just going house to house. After that, a handful of people were waiting on me. :)

There was a little more, but let's fast forward to 2024. By this time, I had added both residential towers, downtown Muskogee, two assisted living facilities, and just wherever the feeling hit me to give out a flower. One such stop was at a park, and ladies were watching the children. I got that strange, protective look at first, but said Happy Mother's Day, and gave them flowers. One lady said sadly, 'this is likely to be the only recognition that she gets that day'. It was sad, but at this brief, moment in time, she had a reason to smile. Which in turn makes me want to do more.

Also, in 2024, I simply did not have the funds to make the purchases that I had planned to. So, I asked a few friends, and they came through. Made lots of people happy. Probably around 200.

Well, it's 2025, and I am planning to take it up a notch for this year. But, I can't do that without a little help.

I am asking you to help me make a few more smiles in Muskogee.

I mostly give one, maybe 2 flowers each. So, if with your help we can get up to about $500 in donations, that's a lot of smiles.

And another big difference this year is that I have already contacted a local florist. So, I need to confirm the order amount by the 14th of April.

I never had a name for it before, but here goes.

The 6th Annual Emily Malone Mother's Day Flower Giveaway.