¡Hello friends of the world! Our tourism is paralyzed with the aim of stopping the spread of the coronavirus in Costa Rica (and we are achieving it!!!). Different sectors have had to find alternatives to survive. Costa Rican flower industry is one of them.
This new reality has forces us to reinvent ourselves. The flower growers are an example on how to survive this economic crisis.
Their situation has been very tragic. Recently, ‘Forbes Central America’ reported that the flower producers could not export their productos and had to start destroying them. Remember, all exportation flights were suspended.
Furthermore, social events and parties were also canceled as part of the social distancing necessary at this time. In this kind of activities a lot of flowers are usually used.
The numbers are not encouraging for the sector. In a few weeks they reported $25 million in losses and more than 7,000 jobs directly affected by the covid-19 crisis.
Can you imagine what a painful scenario! All the hard work that the flower growers did for months, destroyed in seconds.
Lilies, roses and chrysanthemums began to disappear until a brilliant mind had a great idea. They’re encouraging people to buy flowers to surprise workers from the Costa Rica’s public health system. They are risking their lives to save people infected with the virus.
The initiative has been a resounding success.
The campaign is called “Double Aid”.The goal is to buy flowers at a very cheap price to send to medical personnel. They work day and night to prevent a national emergency.
What an incredible idea! The Costa Rican people came together to support and promote flower growers. They’re also recognizing the health service.
The cost to help is very little: only ¢1,000, which is less than $ 2.
The initiative had an unprecedented impact in the province of Cartago. Dozens of nurses, doctors and cleaning staff were surprised with flowers in gratitude for their great work.
This happened on Friday, April 18. It’s expected that Costa Rica’s public health centers will soon be filled with flowers.
There’s another similar initiative. It´s call “A Flower for Costa Rica” (“Una flor por Costa Rica” in spanish) and allows you to send flowers all over the country for a very low cost. In addition to flower growers, floral designers participate in this campaign. I will bring relief to 40 families linked to floriculture, and events.
If you want more information you can contact them on Facebook.