Buffalo Grove family's idea for random act of kindness blossoms
The coronavirus outbreak has had many rushing to secure essential supplies like groceries, medicine and even toilet paper.
But also essential are those tokens of kindness that can sometimes get lost in the daily fray.
A Buffalo Grove family is doing its part to fill some of that gap.
The Glassman family — Krystal and Danny Glassman and their children Eden, 7, and Levi, 4 — have been setting out free flowers in front of their University Drive home, hoping the small token will brighten people's days and lift their spirits.
“It's pretty amazing how this has caught on,” Danny Glassman said. “It's just the idea of a random act of kindness. Somebody being able to come and grab a bouquet of flowers is pretty amazing.”
Krystal Glassman said the flowers were provided by an aunt who works with organizations that receive donations of flowers. Ordinarily, the flowers would be passed along to nonprofits, but that's stopped during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“She didn't have any place to donate to, because everything is closed,” Krystal Glassman said. “It's really kind of sad because all this stuff would literally just go in the garbage.”
Instead, Krystal last week had the idea of setting up the flowers on a table in front of her home with a sign inviting people to pick them up. She also posted about it on social media.
“We're one house away from Buffalo Grove Road, so it's really easy (for people to come),” she said. “Our garage sales are great, because everybody sees us from the road.”
The flowers were out again over the weekend. Some of the time, the Glassmans are outside with them, but much of the time they are keeping watch from the house, a safe social distance away.
“I literally have been looking outside, and if people drive up, I'll kind of randomly go to the window and wave to them,” Krystal said.
Pictures of the flowers, placed in vases, have subsequently appeared on social media. Krystal even received a message from a woman in Texas who saw one of the posts on social media and shared it.
One man said he has been giving his wife flowers every week for 35 years and, thanks to the family, he was able to keep up the tradition.