Volunteers build Valentine’s Day baskets for local widows

By Derek Heid

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    WHEATFIELD, New York (WKBW) — This Valentine’s Day, a group of volunteers in Wheatfield will be traveling door-to-door delivering gift bags of flowers, chocolate and more to local widows.

Catherine Szabad from Wheatfield has watched how Valentine’s Day can become a depressing reminder of lost loved ones for the several widows in her life.

“I’ve had friends that have lost their spouses, the pain that they feel, I couldn’t imagine,” Catherine said.

This year, she was determined to make a change and make this holiday better for those people.

“I’m looking at Valentine’s Day differently now,” Catherine said. “The whole message with this widow day outreach is to let them know they are not forgotten, and they are thought of every day.”

With a team of volunteers and countless donations from local businesses, Catherine’s organization, Hearts in Bloom, put together gift baskets for 40 widows across Western New York.

Her inspiration, Ashley Manning, a woman in Charlotte, North Carolina, who hands out flowers to hundreds of widows in her area and was even featured on ABC World News Tonight.

“I thought ‘that is amazing,’ because you don’t ever see anybody do things for widows,” Catherine said.

Catherine has been committed to this idea for nearly a year, even enrolling herself and her aunt, Terry Reaser, in a college course at NCCC on floral arrangements.

“My son said to me ‘mom, do you remember how to study?’ I said ‘Yeah, I think so’,” Terry said.

“It was fun actually, I kind of miss it to tell you the truth,” Catherine said.

Terry herself is a widow and can’t wait to give these gifts to people in her same situation.

“I’m sure they will be surprised and very grateful,” Terry said. “This is touching.”

On Valentine’s Day, the group of volunteers will be going door-to-door delivering the baskets to 40 of the widows nominated by others this winter.

Catherine hopes to make this a yearly tradition and serve up to 100 local widows next Valentine’s Day.

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