You have probably seen these cute vintage Econolines around town sporting an abundance of beautiful flowers and bouquets for purchase from Flourish Flowers. This business is all about sharing the joy and beauty of fresh flowers throughout our city.
Calamity struck a few weeks ago and one of their mobile flower trucks (a Knoxville staple, thanks to you all) spontaneously caught on fire while one of their employees were on the interstate on their way to one of Flourish’s regular pop-ups. Thankfully no one was harmed, but their truck was completely destroyed. This cute little 1961 Ford Econoline was the foundation of their business.
Savannah Pannell started business from a really tough place in her life. “It seemed there were a lot more hard days than good days. This season of life challenged me to create something that could be used as a tangible glimpse of hope, love, and kindness in anyone’s situation. I think flowers are able to do just that. The heart behind Flourish is to create opportunities for people to love themselves and those around them well! I believe we are made to enter into the lives of those around us, and with the gift of flowers we can both celebrate and grieve with others.” But to continue making this vision a reality, that means replacing our lost truck as quickly as possible.
Why do they need you?
Due to the age of the vehicle their insurance isn’t going to be paying much to help with these losses. “To be completely transparent, we put over $28K into this truck and we lost it all. A short list - truck, automatic engine we converted last year, a custom table, custom metal frame/canopy, a whole load of flowers and all of their buckets, our POS system, cash box/cash, merchandise, you name it - it was destroyed. Insurance plans to give us about $6K in compensation, which doesn’t even cover the income we are losing while not being able to be out as planned.” All funds received will go toward the cost of a new truck, a custom canopy, the truck wrap, and all of the equipment they lost.
As luck would have, Savannah found a new truck very quickly after the fire. “Finding an automatic Econoline in good shape is almost unheard of, especially anywhere near the east coast. We reached out to the Econoline community and told them our story and a man responded that he had one in Indiana that wasn’t for sell but he was willing to talk about it with us. His grandfather had many vintage cars and had passed away last fall. They were deciding which ones to keep and which to sell and he felt like his grandfather would want his car to go to something like our business and said it made it have meaning in such a hard time for their family. We knew this new truck was meant for us - we took a leap of faith before knowing what insurance would say. We have worked really hard over the past 5 years to create a stable, year round work environment for our team and this set back has been a difficult one for our business. Taking a toll on our resources, our people, and our finances as we figure out what recovery looks like.”
“We realize it’s vulnerable to say “We need you”, but we do. We always have! Our motto is “Together We Flourish” for a reason - we believe it wholeheartedly. We try to be as transparent as possible, and right now we don’t know any other way to be if we want to keep moving forward.”
If you would like to show your support, you can find a link to their GoFundMe page on our website at Hushh.club or on their Facebook page and look in our shopping section for a unique opportunity to show your support!
