A MINISTRY OF FLOWERS

By Mary Margaret Yeilding, 2007 Women’s Retreat Chair

SOUTH HIGHLAND PC , Presbytery of Sheppards & Lapsley

Several years ago I clipped a newspaper article on a topic I had just become aware of – Jennifer Slaughter’s “Perenity” flower ministry. She and her husband, Terry, created the ministry initially as a way to share the beautiful, abundant flowers from their gardens with patients in hospice care in the Birmingham area. At first she created around 35-45 arrangements weekly out of her own garden but as knowledge of Perenity grew, she began receiving donations of flowers from local florists, wedding receptions, country club events and garden clubs. Now she fashions around 100-250 arrangements weekly and provides them to New Beacon Hospice volunteers who then take them to their patients. Hospitalized patients and shut-ins from her church are also recipients of her efforts. She has said that the most touching donated arrangements come from funerals and grave sites especially from terminal patients who specify they want her to have the flowers from their services.

In February, Jennifer spoke at the 2007 Women’s Retreat at South Highland Presbyterian Church where she and her family are members. She brought several donated arrangements and with the help of four retreat attendees demonstrated how she recycles the large arrangements into lovely, smaller ones that could grace a bedside. She talked of the various ways one could volunteer and provided copies of articles featuring Perenity, which is a non-profit organization, and handouts that further explained the needs of this ministry. Participants at the retreat brought dozens of vases with them Friday evening and presented them to her as a gift to her ministry.

Perenity is a word coined by her husband, a graphic artist, which combines the words “perennial” and “eternity”. Since its inception in October 2000 she has created over 22,000 arrangements. In December she temporarily ceases creating flower arrangements in order to create around 400 small Christmas trees, decorated specifically for each patient with themes that are meaningful to that individual.

A little over two and a half years ago, she franchised Perenity to an individual in Nashville, TN. Over 7, 000 flower arrangements have now been created for patients in that area.

Perenity has a website, perenity.com,

and Jennifer can be reached at jennifer@perenity.com.