The Iris Movement

A Hope Grows initiative for caregiver awareness, appreciation, and assistance.

As a nonprofit organization focused on Cultivating Caregiver Wellness, Hope Grows is pleased to launch The Hope Grows Iris Movement™. Through the symbolic blue bearded iris, we honor family caregivers by:

• Raising Awareness | Bringing caregiver issues to the forefront, helping caregivers to self-identify, and expanding their recognition throughout the community and workplace.
• Encouraging Appreciation | Ensuring caregivers feel appreciated and unified, and creating a general appreciation in the community-at-large.
• Providing Assistance | Gathering support and funding needed to help caregivers now.

The three petals of the blue bearded iris symbolize Faith, Valor, and Wisdom, making it a perfect embodiment of caregiver qualities. Hope Grows makes the iris symbol available as lapel pins, notecards, and decals that can be purchased and used to help raise awareness and show appreciation for caregivers. Additionally, iris bulbs can be purchased and planted in the Hope Grows iris garden in honor or in memory of a caregiver or care recipient.

Proceeds from the sale of all Iris Movement products benefit Hope Grows’ programs that provide much-needed assistance for caregivers through three core areas of service: Counseling and Support, Therapeutic Respite, and Education and Training.

What is a caregiver and why do we need a movement to build caregiver awareness, appreciation, and assistance?

Hope Grows defines the caregiver as anyone providing unpaid care to dependent children, spouses, parents, siblings, relatives, friends, or neighbors. Caregiving can include personal care, physical help, emotional or social support, behavioral support, assistance with activities of daily living, assistance accessing services, and financial help.

In any or all of these scenarios, caregivers are often left to feel overwhelmed, burned out, and isolated. Statistics show that a significant portion of America’s 44 million+ caregivers are experiencing physical, mental, emotional, and financial challenges as a result.

• The number of caregivers and the need for at-home family caregiving are increasing.
• Caregiver burnout and mortality rates are increasing.
• The number of trustworthy, affordable, professional, or semi-professional caretakers available for work is decreasing.
• The systemic complexities of caregiving are becoming more challenging.

The time for awareness, appreciation, and assistance is NOW.

About the Hope Grows Iris Image
The image above of the blue bearded iris used in The Iris Movement was created by artist Michele Moehring-Story and presented at Hope Grows’ first Victorian Tea fundraising event. Michele was the featured artist and was aware of the symbolism of the flower; she knew it would be a perfect first piece of featured art.

Michele has given copyright to the art as a gift to Hope Grows, a priceless donation that will serve as a reminder of caregivers everywhere as it becomes the symbol of a movement to honor them.

The use of flower symbolism and nature are emphasized and integrated with many of Hope Grows programs and services, not only because of its relaxing, connecting, grounding, and restorative values, but also for its representation and illustration of life’s beauty, challenges, changes, and cycles – all very relatable to caregiving.