“I feel like, while I was there, I got to take a little bit of people back home with me,” said Scott Reed of Petal Pushers, who was a member this year of the volunteer design team chosen to help decorate the White House. “And that made the experience even better.”
For a florist in West Point, Mississippi, a recent trip to the White House was a dream nearly a decade in the making.
Scott Reed of Petal Pushers was one of dozens of volunteers chosen to help decorate the White House this year. Reed first applied for the honor in 2008, but was told the team had already been assembled. He tried again in subsequent years without luck, but felt determined to get to Washington this year. At the end of October, he received notification that he was in.
“It’s obviously a very busy time of year for florists, but this was an opportunity I couldn’t turn down,” said Reed, who re-arranged several jobs back home to accommodate the White House volunteer work. “The White House is so well documented at Christmas. I saw this as a chance to be part of American history.”
It was also a chance to work hard, make friends, and let his creativity flow in a singular place.
While advanced teams worked with the First Lady for months on theme and design ideas, Reed got to work at 5 a.m. on Black Friday with a group of fellow volunteers. He was assigned to the Blue Room, the site of the official White House Christmas tree, but he also helped with the Red Room and the famed East Corridor, which was lined this year with glittering white branches.
“Mrs. Trump was very hands-on and very deliberate in choosing her theme and the looks she wanted,” Reed explained. “That said, we were given flexibility to use our judgement and make changes, to tweak designs when necessary.”
Reed said he was impressed by the warmth and professionalism of the White House staff, and the quick camaraderie developed among fellow volunteers. There were also plenty of moments of levity.
“For all of the organization and prep — and despite the fact that we were in the White House — we ran into the same normal hiccoughs that florists experience all the time: ‘I ran out of ribbon. I need more garland,’” he said. “So, we were all laughing about that: ‘Well, I’ve had this problem before but I’ve never had it at the White House!”
This week Reed is back home in Mississippi, decorating client homes for the coming holidays. He said customers have been interested in hearing more about the experience and many were more than happy to adjust their schedules to allow for his trip.
“I feel like, while I was there, I got to take a little bit of people back home with me,” he said. “And that made the experience even better.”
