Friends and Flowers is a student-led nonprofit organization with a mission to deliver flowers to widows and widowers on Valentine’s Day.
Jaren Pugmire, a BYU student, is the president and founder of Friends and Flowers.
“We were a bunch of happy but lonely college students who were single on Valentine’s Day and we thought it would be fun to do something to serve and love others,” Pugmire said.
Last year, Friends and Flowers was a small group of 100 in the Logan, Utah area. This year, they hope to gather around 4,000 volunteers in the Cache Valley area, Provo, Orem and Rexburg, Idaho to deliver 8,000 flowers.
Volunteers in each area will meet at a designated spot before heading out to assisted living centers to hand out flowers.
Pugmire said he registered Friends and Flowers as a nonprofit in September 2025.
Brinlee Risenmay is in charge of community engagement, and oversees a different project linked with Friends and Flowers dedicated to families or individuals who have lost someone or are going through a difficult time.
Friends and Flowers sent out a survey to receive referrals for these people to whom they can donate a bigger gift. Risenmay said that they are working with fifteen families and individuals over the four different areas.
“The biggest impact I see in this is the fact that their community is supporting them, and as much as we are working with the community, we’re able to really make a difference that's transformative rather than transactional,” Risenmay said.
According to Risenmay, the nonprofit contacted neighbors, church communities and family members of those referred to help create more personalized gifts.
Many of the gifts include experiences, like Utah Jazz tickets.
“For some people, it would be more meaningful to have an experience than a blanket or flowers or something,” Risenmay said.
There is a lot that goes on behind the scenes to get the word out and achieve their goal.
Emily Kerksiek is the marketing manager for Friends and Flowers and runs all of the social media pages.
“It’s kind of crazy because our last video got 122,000 views, so we’re getting pretty out there in the public, which is awesome,” Kerksiek said.
Kerksiek said that they have collaborated with many different local social media influencers and other well-known figures around Utah, like Gov. Cox.
“We’ve talked to them and then come up with a collab, and it’s always based around flowers,” Kerksiek said.
Kerksiek shared more details about their plans on Valentine's Day.
“I’m excited to just walk into the Utah Valley Institute building and see the buckets of flowers. We’ve ordered eight thousand flowers that are all being delivered there,” Kerksiek said.
Kerksiek explained that in Orem, Friends and Flowers has organized eight to nine different assisted living homes and will be sending volunteers to.
The volunteers will each be able to hand out one to two flowers and then have enough for them to hand out after this experience.
“They’ll go home with a couple of flowers to give to family, friends or random people on the street,” Kerksiek said.
The Friends and Flowers Instagram page posted information on where volunteers should meet in each area to pick up the flowers before heading out.
All of the students leading the nonprofit are volunteers. Pugmire said the nonprofit has about 200-250 student leaders helping to prepare everything and recruit people.
‘It’s been really incredible to see what a group of busy students are able to create,” Risenmay said.
To learn more about volunteering or to make a donation, visit the Friends and Flowers website.