Flowers for the Holiday? Winn-Dixie’s ‘Bloomin’ 4 Good’ Bouquets Mean Help for Flagler County Meals on Wheels

It’s not too late to pick up a bouquet of flowers for the Thanksgiving holiday, and selecting a “Bloomin’ 4 Good” bouquet from the Winn-Dixie located at 111 Flagler Plaza Drive (off of State Road 100) will support Flagler County Meals on Wheels.

“It was so gracious of them to think of us,” said Senior Services Program Manager Joanne Hinkel. “Every little bit helps, and we are certainly grateful for any program support we get.”

This local-support program runs through the end of November. According to the company website, “every month, leadership at each store location chooses a local hunger organization to be the default beneficiary from the Bloomin’ 4 Good Program.”

Only bouquets labeled with a red circle stating that a $1 donation equals 10 plus meals are part of the program. Winn-Dixie has been in communication with the county about the status.

“It’s just so thoughtful,” Hinkel said. “Everyone in our community – including our businesses are so generous.”

Winn-Dixie uses the calculation provided by the organization Feeding America: “We calculate the cost of a meal by looking at how much food is donated to Feeding America and Feeding America’s operational costs. Our operational costs include, but are not limited to, collecting, storing, and transporting food to our member food banks.

“We divide the total number of pounds of donated food by what it costs to keep Feeding America running smoothly and getting that food where it needs to go. That gives us the number of pounds of food we secured on behalf of local food banks per dollar. Each meal is roughly 1.2 pounds of food so that gives us our meal per dollar figure.”