News
Opportunities for people with a disability
May 5, 2011
Volunteers help save Mother’s Day flowers after devastating floods
The mothers of Bundaberg need not despair – your fresh, local Mother’s Day flowers are here!
More than 50 staff, supported employees and Endeavour Foundation volunteers are busy preparing the Endeavour Foundation farm’s stunning chrysanthemums, for what will be the busiest time of the year for the service’s flower department.
They are being helped by hundreds of students from Shalom College, who are getting stuck into picking and bunching the flowers every day this week.
“It’s all hands on deck at the moment,” said Endeavour Foundation Industries Bundaberg manager Geoffrey Atwell.
“It’s been a very testing build up to Mother’s Day this year but we’ve made it and we’ve got a great crop which shows how hard we’ve worked.”
The farm was devastated by the floods which struck Bundaberg over summer.
Staff and supported employees had planted an additional 2,000 seedlings last year in addition to the previous year’s 4,000, hoping for a bumper crop in 2011. Instead they faced losing the entire crop.
“By the middle of January we thought we had lost more than 70 per cent of the bumper chrysanthemum crop,” Geoffrey said.
“We quickly called in the expertise of our agronomists, Hortus Technical Services, together with our own team of farmers and the turn-around has been astounding.
“Thanks to lots of tender loving care, we now look to harvest approximately 70 per cent of the 6,000 seedlings planted.”
The loss in revenue of those plants hit by the floods is estimated to be around $10,000 but it could have been much worse.
For more than 20 years the farm has brought a smile to the mums of Bundaberg by growing chrysanthemums – the traditional Mother’s Day flower.
Last year the farm boosted its sales by sending flowers to Endeavour Foundation services and stores as far north as Rockhampton and Gladstone.
Despite having lost some of this year’s crop Geoffrey is determined to continue the expansion, by selling flowers as far south as Brisbane.
He said demand for the flowers was testament to their reasonable price – just $9.95 a bunch – and high quality.
Geoffrey praised all staff, supported employees and volunteers involved with the flowers.
“Everyone’s worked so hard to get to where we are so now we’re just encouraging the public to come in and support us by buying our fresh flowers for their mothers this Mother’s Day,” he said.
“It’s also important to thank everyone involved with saving 70 per cent of our crop. With next week being National Volunteer Week I’d like to make special mention of the volunteers, including the students from Shalom College. Without the volunteers, we’d be in trouble.”
Endeavour Foundation offers several services to people with a disability in Bundaberg, including accommodation, education, lifestyle and employment opportunities.
Endeavour Foundation Industries Bundaberg alone, which includes the farm, employs 72 people with a disability.
Chrysanthemums are on sale for $9.95 a bunch at the farm, 7 Fitzgerald Street, until Mother’s Day on Sunday.
For opening hours or more details, call the farm on 4152 1570.
Contact
Jo Glover
Media and Communications Officer
Phone: (07) 3908 7257/ 0429 065 440
Fax: (07) 3253 7271
Email: j.glover@endeavour.com.au
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