Christ's love blossoms through Random Acts of Hope

Catherine Worden carries out Random Acts of Hope by handing out flowers.

To random people.

So far, about 50,000.

The East Peorian and other volunteers gave away, randomly and appropriately, 1,000 flowers in 2½ hours at the Pekin Marigold Festival in Pekin, on Sept. 7.

"Flowers impact people," Worden said recently. "They can change somebody's day, change the atmosphere."

She started handing out flowers in 2014, mainly to church members and co-workers.

"I lived in a house that had flowers the entire growing season, from early spring until late fall, and started taking them to work and giving them away to different people," Worden said.

That grew into a more extensive ministry when she and Christian friends started handing out flowers at festival events in the Peoria area. The biggest giveaway so far was 10,000 carnations in August 2020 throughout the community.

"We raised funds to purchase the 10,000 flowers and gathered people on a Saturday at RockChurch and sent people out with buckets of flowers," she said.

Flowers are usually bought with donations and income from fundraisers or are donated by local florists. Carnations are suitable for large giveaways "because they hold up out of water."

"They're the most durable, I guess," Worden said.

Ask how you can help with Random Acts of Hope by going to the ministry's Contact page or donate here.

The flowers usually have a card attached with the Random Acts of Hope logo and a message that says, "Random Acts of Hope exists to share the love of God through flowers." It has Rock Church's logo on the other side since that congregation has been the main partner with Worden.

Most people react to being given a flower with surprise.

"We've had a few people say, 'No, I'd rather not.' You know, that's very rare," Worden said. "We've had people just break down crying, whether it's an arrangement of flowers or just a single flower maybe. They'll say, 'I've had a bad day,' or 'It's just what I needed.'"

Community events aren't the only places Worden and others perform Random Acts of Hope, though. They bless patients in hospitals, too.

"I think it opens up opportunities to pray for people," Worden said. "Or it helps them to open up with a memory.

"People are really surprised to get something for free."

Worden said she hopes to do another giveaway like the 10,000 at some point, and she and her cohorts are looking at possibly entering a float in the Marigold Festival Parade next year and handing out flowers along the route.

Flowers were natural for Worden because she always used to have them handy. She suggests anyone else wanting to bless people randomly look for what they already have, like to do, or like to make. One of her friends makes cards and gives them to people she knows. It can be on a large scale or small.

"Just find out what resources you have," Worden said. "What do you have that you can give."

She cited Exodus 36:3-4:

And they received from Moses all the contribution that the people of Israel had brought for doing the work on the sanctuary. They still kept bringing him freewill offerings every morning, so that all the craftsmen who were doing every sort of task on the sanctuary came, each from the task that he was doing ...

"It's like, 'Whatever's in your hand, that's what you can give.'"