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Jim’s Corner

Connectivity

Celebrate the Young People on International Youth Day

August 9, 2020
Connectivity

Teachers Are Our Heroes

August 3, 2020
Local Heroes

Local Heroes

We’ve been collecting and sharing stories of local heroes from our community over the last few months. We’ve enjoyed hearing all your stories. We are humbled by all the amazing local heroes you have shared.

With back to school around the corner we have been thinking a lot about teachers and the role they play in all of our lives.

When someone says the word hero, many think about traditional heroes. As a Company, we’re also committed to our local heroes and teachers are certainly among the group we call heroes. Continue Reading…

Connectivity

The Most Treasured Gifts Cannot be Bought

June 15, 2020
Dad and daughter cooking

Dad and daughter cooking

Share Your Story of Your Father

We have the incredible power to influence how people feel

Father’s Day is a chance to pause and reflect on what a wonderful job our fathers have done. It’s an opportunity for you to do something your dad, grandfather, or a father figure in your life, will remember forever. We can express ourselves in person, make them a handwritten card, send a text or let the whole world know how much we love our dad in a social media post. These calendared events are important because they remind us to take the time to tell the people in our lives that we love and admire them. Continue Reading…

Connectivity

Setting Goals

June 1, 2020

“Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.”
– Tony Robbins

Last week we talked about our ability to use the upcoming slower summer months productively, rather than letting them pass us by. We encouraged you to identify some summer goals and to start a list of tasks you want to complete in order to reach your goal.

We were thrilled with the outpouring of submissions about how you are going to spend your summer months and the lofty goals you had set. Carol Geary, we wish you luck on your summer garden. We also look forward to taking on new gardening projects. Stephen Chatwin, we admire that you want to get your yard fixed up so that your son has a safe place to play. Dan Fortuna, we are humbled that our letter made you step back to realize your goal was to be the best you can be. This is a lofty one and we all strive to be the best version of ourselves for our families, friends and communities. Continue Reading…

Connectivity

A Summer Unlike Any Other

May 22, 2020

The lazy days of summer. We think about lively beaches, outdoor concerts, cookouts with friends, sleepaway camps, family vacations and Fourth of July picnics and fireworks. Our thoughts turn this way each Memorial Day, which in addition to being a day of remembrance for fallen American military, is often celebrated as the unofficial kickoff to the summer.

Creating New Traditions

However, this year, it will be different. Many summer activities have already been canceled because of the pandemic. But, like all things in life, this summer will be what you make of it. It may require some creativity, but there is still fun to be had. You may not get to enjoy your annual family reunion or July 4th BBQ, but there are certainly other ways to enjoy our summer months. Continue Reading…

Connectivity

Connecting with New Connection Communities

May 17, 2020

This week, we celebrate the launch of our 1-800-Flowers.com Connection Communities. This initiative has been a long time in-the-making, but, as we continue to adjust to this new normal, it’s more important than ever.

At 1-800-Flowers.com, we are always looking for new ways to further our mission: helping our customers express and connect with the important people in their lives. With this in mind, our friend, advisor, and board member, Adam Hanft introduced us to the founders of the award-winning self-care app, Wisdo. They have built a platform that helps foster relationships, through peer-to-peer support, of people who have experienced similar events in their lives.

After meeting the smart and hard-working Wisdo team, we were struck by how much their mission aligned with ours. We both wanted to connect people in ways that strengthens their relationships through good times and bad.

In partnership with Wisdo, we’ve designed eight curated digital communities where our customers can connect with one another around shared life experiences. We see these as a community of communities, connecting people who have been through something – whether joyful or difficult – with people who are going through it now. We’re are offering this community access at no cost.

This is a big step for us and we strongly believe it could not come at a better time with so many of us struggling with the disruption of this pandemic. As the New Yorker recently put it, social distancing measures are forcing us “to do the opposite of what we’ve learned to do over millennia to survive.” Separation from our loved ones, and all the wisdom and reassurance they can offer, can take a toll on our health and well-being.

Loneliness has been a major problem long before COVID-19 began plaguing our communities, but it’s of an even greater concern today. So, too, is the loss of a loved one and the struggle to repair a strained relationship or the challenges of taking care of an elderly relative. Whatever the situation, throughout life, all of us need help along the way. Our hope is that these dedicated 1-800-Flowers.com Connection Communities will become a hub for beneficial interactions in these challenging times and remain a source of support long after this challenging time has passed.

Many organizations talk about customer acquisition. At 1-800-Flowers.com, we believe in earning relationships. When we opened our first flower shop 40+ years ago, we were at the center of a little community. Today, we are at the center of a much larger, digital community – but our mission remains the same. We want to continue to be a source of support and advice for our customers, even if we can’t talk with them over a cup of coffee like in the old days. It’s our hope that our 1-800-Flowers.com Connection Communities will bring our customers closer together as we help support one another.

Please visit us here to join the hundreds of thousands already involved in the conversation:
https://www.1800flowers.com/connection-communities

All the best,

Jim & Chris

Connectivity

Happy Mother’s Day

May 10, 2020

This is Mother’s Day Weekend, one of the busiest times of the year for us. It’s a time to celebrate not just your own mother, but all of the moms, grandmothers, and surrogate moms who have inspired us and make us stronger every day. We would not be who, or where, we are today without them.honoring moms teachers nurses

Continue Reading…

Connectivity

Moms Matter Even More This Year

April 27, 2020
Jim with Mom for Mom's Matter Most This Year

You may have heard of our long-running program, “Mothers Who Matter Most”. This year, the campaign has evolved into “Moms Matter Even More This Year”. Why? Because this Mother’s Day will be different. Whether working remotely, serving on the front lines against the virus, or taking care of their grandchildren at home, moms are being called upon to do more than ever right now. You may not be able to be with the important mothers in your life and celebrate in person, but that doesn’t change the enormous role mothers play in the lives of our families and communities.

“Mothers Who Matter Most” began some thirty years ago when we received a heartwarming request. A peculiar envelope, printed in block letters, was sent to our Bayside, Queens, NY office with $16 and a note from a young man who wrote that while he’d certainly made mistakes in his life, his mother had always stood by him. With Mother’s Day approaching, he wanted to know if we could do something special for her. We, of course, sent her a beautiful gift and he was forever grateful. The letter moved all of us and inspired us to ask customers to share with us stories of the incredible mothers in their lives.

Jim & Chris with Mom

At one point, we were contacted by a producer from Leeza, an earlier version of today’s Ellen. This woman told us how touched she was by the stories. We ended up collaborating on a campaign where one of five finalists was featured each day the week leading to Mother’s Day, and several celebrity judges, including Jim, picked the winner. Every year, we look forward to reading through your entries and hearing about these wonderful women and the lives they touch. Continue Reading…

Connectivity

Gratitude for Administrative Professionals Week

April 21, 2020
How to show admin professionals gratitude

A Note From Our Founder, Jim McCann

The week ahead is an important one – Administrative Professionals Week. Believe me, it’s one we feel very strongly about here, and I want to tell you why.

To me, this week is an opportunity to celebrate the people in our professional lives who make things happen. As many of us transition to working remotely, some of these folks may be more out of sight than usual. But they should never be far from our minds. If anything, I suspect many of them are working harder than ever – setting up remote offices; coordinating schedules at a distance; keeping facilities clean and up and running for when normal hours resume.

I could never accomplish half of what I do – nor do it with a smile on my face – without the amazing work of my assistant, Patty. We’ve worked together for nearly 28 years. Patty, Jo, Lisa, Susan, Kim, Barbara, Tammy, Letty, Marilyn, Andrea and the other amazing administrative professionals at 1-800-Flowers.com are the people who just “make things happen” and we are all incredibly grateful.
How to show admin professionals gratitude

Show How Much You Care

Whether you have an administrative professional reporting to you directly or not, we all have people at our offices or workplaces who make the business run smoothly. Make sure you go out of your way to thank them this week and let them know what their work means to you.

I’d suggest we all learn from our 1-800-Flowers.com CMO, Amit Shah. During our all-team offsite meeting last summer in Long Island, NY Amit took half his time on stage to thank those individuals by name who make things happen at 1-800-Flowers.com. Hank and Edward in building services, Brian in the mailroom and Jeanne in reception. It was wonderfully moving and an example for us all.

The administrative professionals in your life may not be there when you walk in these days, nor walking the halls during your workday. So, make sure you go out of your way to thank them. Send a text. Make a phone call. Write an old-fashioned note. Make sure they know how indispensable they are – in these crazy times, more than ever.

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