The #OneHeart flower wall became a kind of meeting place for mourners. “Many tears, hugs and stories were shared with loved ones and strangers,” said Sally and John Kobylinski, owners of In Bloom Florist (Photo by Jillian Quian)For one flower shop in Orlando, sleepless nights and a deep, heartfelt desire to do something to help the victims of the mass shooting led to a truly stunning floral tribute — and one that the whole community could participate in.

For the Lake Eola Vigil last week, which drew tens of thousands to mourn and remember the victims of the Pulse Shooting, Sally and John Kobylinski, owners of In Bloom Florist, created a heart-shaped flower wall. Rather, they created the foundation of the heart, allowing community members the honor and catharsis of completing it.

“Sally and John started to line the 8-foot heart with pittosporum and chicken wire with the help of a few friends and family,” explained the Kobylinskis in an email. “We placed out buckets of thousands of cut flowers for the crowd to build the wall organically.”

To pull off the heart, the Kobylinskis relied not only on their own team but also local partners and dozens of floral industry friends from across segments for donations of time, funds and product. (For a full list, see below.)

The “labor of love”— termed #OneHeart for the vigil — soon became a symbol to the community and a kind of meeting place, they said.

Sally and John Kobylinski credit their faith for their determination to help victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting. “God knows that, as a community, we would all come together and lead with our love,” Sally said. In addition to providing funeral flowers to famiy, the In Bloom Florist team created an 8-foot flower wall. (Photo by Jillian Quian)

“Many tears, hugs and stories were shared with loved ones and strangers,” they explained. “One woman stopped to weep by the wall, she told one of the team members she didn’t know anybody who passed, but she feels such sadness for the families and doesn’t know what to do. The team member held her for a minute and shared comforting words of love. This happened a hundred times, but in the end, strangers became momentary friends and support systems for each other.”

It wasn’t the wall itself that was healing, they added, “but the opportunity it gave people to stop and talk with the person standing next to them, helping to build this unified memorial.”

“As the masses were leaving the vigil, people started leaving their candles, flowers, signs and prayers in front of the heart,” they said. “We gave the #OneHeart flower wall the community and they turned it into something much bigger than we could have imagined.”

Following up on its pledge to help the victims’ families with donated funeral flowers, In Bloom has also been in contact with all 49 families/funeral homes, and have supplied floral to 41 funeral services, including services in Puerto Rico.

“Our team has worked tirelessly to track down and accommodate any need the family has,” they said. “We have customized numerous tributes for the families, accommodating favorite flowers, colors, sports teams, nick-names and of course the one that hit us all the hardest, sending a tribute for a brave mother.”

See additional pictures and read more.

In Bloom thanks the following local and floral industry partners for their role in making the flower wall as well as the floral tributes for the families of the victims a reality:

Local partners:

–       CAM Contracting, LLC

·      Rhonda Di Fraia Seip

·       Orlando Wholesale Florist

·      Lake Eola Park, Downtown Orlando, Florida.

·      Pixies & Petals

·      Katherine’s Florist

Floral Industry Partners:

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