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Farm FAQs

Where is the Farm located?

 

The Farm is located on the Olneyville neighborhood of Providence at 63 Magnolia Street. However, we are not a public park - our staff are busy working on growing, rescuing and giving away flowers. You can visit as a volunteer, or as an artist who wants to work outside en plain air or as a group seeking a tour. If you are in the latter two, please email for an appointment. 

 

What's the Farm's mission and history?

 

What Cheer Flower Farm is a nonprofit dedicated to bringing solace, joy and healing to the people of Rhode Island via flowers as well as supporting our local floral economy via job training.

 

We grow, rescue and give away 100,000 flowers per year and are on track to expand to giving away 300,000 flowers per year in the next five years. We never sell flowers - all are given away freely via our network of local nonprofits and organizations serving Rhode Islanders including hospitals, senior services, recovery centers, shelters, hospices and food pantries. 

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2017 Achievements

  • What Cheer Flower Farm founded by three Rhode Islanders

  • Initial funds to purchase land secured from private donors

 

2018 Achievements

  • 10,000 flowers grown and given away

  • 2.7 acres of former factory land acquired in Providence’s Olneyville neighborhood

  • $50,000 RI DEM grant won to remove pollutants from derelict factory on site

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2019 Achievements

  • 44,500 flowers grown, rescued & given away

  • Annual Flower Festival launched attracting 700+ attendees

  • Grants won from Blue Cross Blue Shield, Rhode Island Foundation, RISCA and RI DEM

 

2020 Achievements

  • 50,000 flowers grown, rescued and given away (despite the pandemic)

  • Pollinator garden planted and Farm Barn erected

  • Grants won from Citizens Bank, the Garden Club of America and the June Rockwell Levy Foundation

          

          2021 Achievements

  • 85,000 flowers grown, rescued and given away

  • CheerMobile purchased with donated funds

  • Received Special Recognition from RI Governor McKee

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        2022 Achievements

  • 92,000 flowers grown, rescued and given away

  • $50,000 grant won from United Way/Social Enterprise Greenhouse

  • Relaunched Flower Festival named "The Best Thing to Do in RI" by The Boston Globe

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What's the Farm's 5 Year Plan?

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The Farm is expanding! With help from RI DEM grants and a capital campaign which has already won us more that $1 million, the Farm is remediating the rest of former factory land we own in order to use our full 2.7 acres for good. The plan includes:

  • 300,000+ stems grown, rescued and given away annually

  • Launching a job training center on site for careers in floristry with paid apprenticeships

  • Launch of a community cut flower garden on site for Olneyville residents to grow their own

 

Why flowers?

 

Science reveals that:

  • Growing flowers reduces anxiety and improves empathy 

  • Patients receiving flowers tend to have quicker recovery times

  • People with flowers in their homes feel happier, less stressed, less depressed and are able to concentrate more easily.

  • The presence of flowers can help as a memory aid - our flowers are used to aid dementia patients


 

Can I visit the Farm?

 

The Farm is a working agricultural and floristry center, not a public park. Sorry, we are not normally open for individual visitors. However, there are select times a year  when we are open to the public:

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  • Flower Festival: Every late August we hold a big outdoor event to celebrate the peak of the harvest season and everyone's invited! Tickets are available online and at the door.

  • Art in the Fields: Artists and art groups and classes can create at pre-arranged dates throughout the year. 

  • Group tours: Gardening, floristry and farming-related groups of six or more people may contact us to arrange a tour during our growing season (May-October.)

 

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Accessibility notes

 

We are two blocks from the RIPTA bus stop in Olneyville center. We have ample parking on site. The main pathway through the field is handicapped accessible. 

 

Please note the following:

  • No children under 12 are allowed on the property except during Flower Festival. 

  • No dogs are allowed on site except for leashed service animals. 

  • No one is allowed in the derelict factory building – the former Colonial Knife factory – adjacent to our field. 

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Here’s what flower recipients say


“One of my clients is a full-time working mother of 5 and she always looks completely exhausted. I handed her the vase and said, “These are for you. We have a wonderful flower farm that gives us flowers to give to clients who may need some beauty in their day.” Her eyes filled with tears and she kept saying, “Oh, oh, are you sure you want to give them to me? Isn’t there someone else who needs them?” I assured her that when the flowers were delivered that day, she was the first and only client that came into my mind who needed them. When she left, she thanked me many times and I absolutely am positive that their beauty softened her difficult and tiring day.”

From St Mary’s Home for Children, Shepard’s Program staff

 

“This ongoing partnership with What Cheer Flower Farm has been beneficial for many of our participants. It has proven to be a universally therapeutic activity that participants who are non-English speaking, cognitively impaired, or who have physical disabilities are able to engage in together. The flowers also bring joy to participants who are home bound or hospitalized.”

From PACE Organization of Rhode Island

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