The Hope Grows Iris Movement™
A Hope Grows initiative for caregiver awareness, appreciation and assistance
The time for awareness, appreciation, and assistance is NOW.
As a nonprofit organization focused on Cultivating Caregiver Wellness™, Hope Grows is pleased to launch The Hope Grows Iris Movement™: a movement to honor family caregivers by raising awareness, encouraging appreciation, and providing assistance – all through the movement’s symbolic, blue bearded iris image.
Awareness
The awareness that Hope Grows is anticipating with this movement is for everyone to recognize the need to support caregivers, for caregivers to be proud of the care they provide and for recognition among their community and workplace.
Appreciation
Hope Grows also wants nothing more than caregivers to feel appreciated and unified; feeling valued is an important component in emotional well-being. By creating a general appreciation for caregivers in the community-at-large is a goal for this movement.
Assistance
Assistance is another part of the movement. Garnering support and funding to help caregivers is needed now. Caregivers struggle financially and providing assistance so that caregivers can receive the rest and care that they need is crucial.
Why the Blue Bearded Iris?
The flower of the blue bearded iris symbolizes care and the three petals symbolize faith, valor, and wisdom – making it a perfect embodiment of caregiver qualities. Nature and flower symbolism are deeply rooted in the mission of Hope Grows: to inspire hope through nature while empowering caregivers to seek wellness of mind, body, and spirit.
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.
About the Hope Grows iris image
The image of the blue bearded iris used in The Hope Grows Iris Movement was created by artist, Michele Moehring-Story, who was featured at the first Hope Grows Victorian Tea signature fundraiser. Now in its sixth year, Hope Grows invites an artist to feature a piece of art every year. While Michele was informed about the Hope Grows symbolism and connection to flowers and Eco psychology model, we both were given information from a floriographer of the meaning of this particular flower. Symbolizing care, Michele felt the blue bearded iris was fitting to draw as the first piece of art for the event. She has recently gifted and given copyright of the art as a gift to Hope Grows. The kind and priceless donation will serve as a reminder to caregivers everywhere as it becomes the symbol of a movement that honors them and aims to raise awareness, encourage appreciation and provide assistance for each and every one of them.
What is The Hope Grows Iris Movement?
As Hope Grows began to carry out its mission, we quickly learned that caregivers were not only struggling with the strain of caregiving tasks but were struggling financially as well. Having a symbol that would represent caregivers everywhere was launched and as products were chosen and continue to be created for this movement, the symbol of this particular flower seemed fitting.
Hope Grows makes the iris symbol available as lapel pins, notecards, and decals that can be purchased and worn or used to help raise awareness and show appreciation for caregivers. Additionally, iris bulbs can be purchased and planted in the Hope Grows iris garden (or your own garden) in honor or in memory of a caregiver or care recipient.
Proceeds from the purchase of all Hope Grows Iris Movement products benefit Hope Grows programs and services that provide much-needed assistance for caregivers through three core areas of service: Counseling and Support, Therapeutic Respite™, and Education and Training.
The following Hope Grows Iris Movement products are available for purchase at HopeGrows.net, at Hope Grows events, and at the Hope Respite House:
- The Caring Pin
- The Caring Decal
- The Caring Note Card
- The Iris Bulbs for Fall planting
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 as is caregiver burnout and mortality rates. The number of trustworthy, affordable, professional or semi-professional caretakers available for work is decreasing and as the systemic complexities of caregiving are becoming more challenging, caregivers are needing more support. Hope Grows encourages everyone to get involved. Consider joining us in this movement and initiative for caregiver awareness, appreciation and assistance.