The Skinny

The Assignment began with a temporary job at a floral wholesale warehouse, where I watched countless flowers being thrown away simply because they were no longer considered perfect. Many still had beauty and life left in them, and I couldn't stand seeing them discarded. I brought them home, thinking I might sell them or find some use for them, never imagining they would change my life.

After spending hours restoring those flowers, I decided to take some to the graves of my brother and grandmother. It had been years since I had visited, and between the passage of time and Hurricane Harvey changing the landscape, I couldn't find either grave. I left the cemetery disappointed, the flowers still sitting beside me in my car.

As I drove away, I passed a nursing home where my mother had once volunteered, bringing joy to residents through her ukulele and hula dancing. I almost kept driving, but instead I turned around, walked inside, and asked if I could hand the flowers out to the residents. The smiles, conversations, and connections I experienced that day changed me in ways I never expected, and I found myself returning again and again to nursing homes and hospice facilities.

Today, The Assignment is about much more than flowers. Flowers are simply how the story began. The real mission is reminding people that they matter and that no one should feel forgotten. Whether through flowers, stuffed animals, a visit, a conversation, or another act of kindness, The Assignment is an invitation for all of us to see value where others see none and to leave the world a little better than we found it.

Find someone who feels forgotten.

Remind them they matter.

Then do it again tomorrow.