Belen, NM Florists

Belen Flower Shop News

Florists' credit union finds niche - Albuquerque Journal

Like Florist FCU, which is based in a small home in Roswell, Belen Railway Employees Credit Union was founded to serve a core group of employees, in this case, employees of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe. Ditto for Colfax School Employees Credit Union in Raton — the smallest of them all — with just 170 members and $300,000 in assets. The “office” is located in a filing cabinet behind CEO Carolyn Hestand’s desk at Raton High School, where she is also works as the district’s special education secretary.Without credit unions like Colfax, a lot of working people in the state’s smaller communities would not have access to credit or financial services, said Hestand. Many members are retirees.“They like the way we do business,” said Hestand of loans for cars, horse trailers and vacations.Florist FCU has $8 million in assets, said Kenn Bell, president of the credit union, the only one chartered in the U.S. to serve the floral industry. “What makes us unique as a small credit union is we know more members by name, their stories, their challenges,” said Bell, whose three-person staff wears a lot of hats. “I know over half our members and can recognize their voices (on the phone),” he said.Members tend to be low- to middle-income earners, Bell said. They are designers and drivers, often single parents or the sole bread winner in their families. “As such, many often don’t have great credit scores, so we have had to change up our model for lending,” said Bell.Services important to members are remote deposit capture, mobile banking and access to an ATM service through the Illinois Credit Union League because it’s very focused on serving the needs of small credit unions.“We have a very robust ACA (Automated Clearing House) program with another vendor,” said Bell. “We are an $8 million credit union, but we send and receive about $16 million in transfers each year,” said Bell.Started in 1955, Belen Railway Credit Union has outgrown the living room of one of its founders and several other locations to serve its 2,000 members, which include railroaders and their families as well as vendors serving the industry.Automated banking is very important to railroaders, since many are out of tow... http://www.abqjournal.com/827449/florists-credit-union-finds-niche.html

'Garden on Mars' replaces blight with flowers, vegetables - The New Orleans Advocate

I sold my first bouquet 35 years ago to a restaurant in Detroit. Flowers have always been my first love. That’s how I met Ian,” Bell said, referring to chef Ian Schnoebelen, of Bywater’s Mariza. “I was selling roses at the Crescent City Farmer’s Market one Saturday morning when he stopped by my table and bought a few. I tucked my business card in with his order, and that is how it got started.” Schnoebelen was intrigued by Bell and her Baronne Street garden, as well as her knowledge of growing herbs and vegetables. Over time, Bell began growing what Schnoebelen told her he needed for his restaurant, and their friendship developed into a business relationship. One of two lots on Charbonnet Street in the Lower 9th Ward is devoted to growing basil, thyme, parsley, sage, fennel, greens and other edibles Schnoebelen buys for his restaurant. “If you think about the difference between really fresh greens grown within a couple of miles of where they’re consumed and something that was harvested weeks ago and shipped hundreds of miles, you can see why a chef would want the local product,” Bell said. The other Charbonnet Street lot, closer to Florida Avenue, is where the flowers grow that Bell and Zimmer turn into bouquets. A downtown apartment complex is a weekly subscriber, but Garden on Mars also grows exotic flowers, like Gloriosa lilies, to sell to florists. Both the flowers and the edibles are grown in raised beds — about 4 feet wide, 8 feet long and 2 feet deep — framed by wide, cedar boards. Sonnet snapdragons in yellow, magenta, white and pink fill the beds of the flower garden, but tubs filled with freesia and gladioli (yet to bloom) circle the lot. “One thing we talk about in the gardening classes is containers for growing food and flowers. You don’t have to a big bed to grow enough food to reduce your grocery costs or enough flowers to sell for extra income. We’re growing the freesia and the gladioli in big plastic tubs that we get from Bayou Tree after they plant whatever was in them.” Bell said. “We made 28 old tires left over from the lot cleanup into planters by painting them and filling with a growing medium. You can even grow in a grocery store crate or box, as long as you use the right soil.” For Bell, that means bags of top soil (brand name “Gardenese”) processed by Phillips Bark in Brookhaven, Mississippi. At $1.69 per bag, Bell considers it a bargain. “I’ve been to their facility, and I can vouch for the product,” she said. “It’s really affordable and you can get it at the big box stores.” Although many of the flowers and other plants grown by Garden on Mars begin with seeds, others start with plugs purchased from Sunrise Trading Company, a large wholesale greenhouse in Kenner. “Sunrise starts the plugs. We buy them from Sunrise and grow them until they are big enough. Then when we harvest them, we sell the flowers to a florist or make bouquets to s... http://www.theneworleansadvocate.com/features/15210096-55/garden-on-mars-replaces-blight-with-flowers-vegetables

New Mexico organ donor honored in Rose Bowl parade - KRQE News 13

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) – Millions will watch the Rose Parade on New Year’s Day, and a Belen man will be recognized for a decision he made at the Motor Vehicles Division. Jonathan Madrid died in August, but his life lives on through others. He was a young organ donor, and he leaves behind a lasting legacy.In California, Joe De La Riva and Monica Ramirez, volunteers with Donate Life, worked hard on a floral portrait of Jonathan Madrid of Belen.Monica Ramirez said, “I want to tell the families thank you, thank you for sharing Jonathan with me, thank you for making a decision to make that decision to donate first of all.”The floragraph of Jonathan is one of 60 memorial floragraphs that will go on the Donate Life float in the 127th Rose Parade in Pasadena.“It’s a pleasure and an honor, honestly, again to do this for the family. They’ve gone through so much, and just a little token of saying, thank you, for everything they’ve given,” said Joe De La Riva.The floragraph was shipped from California to Albuquerque, and Thursday in a moving ceremony, Jonathan’s parents put the fin... http://krqe.com/2015/12/04/new-mexico-organ-donor-honored-in-rose-bowl-parade/

Flower shop brightens day for first responders - KPIC News

ER as a nurse. I figured she could use a little pick-me-up today."While this flower shop is handing out roses, another shop has been getting hundreds of dollars in donations. "Casa de Belen had an event scheduled for the following weekend and they had to cancel the event due to all the things that have happened,” said Barbara Hagedorn of Barb’s Flowers in Roseburg. “So they called me and said ‘Barb, since you were going to do the flowers, how about you donate the flowers to the families.’"... http://www.kpic.com/news/local/Flower-shop-brightens-day-for-first-responders-331497151.html

Washington court rules against florist in gay wedding case - Albuquerque Journal

U.S. Supreme Court, according to Lambda Legal. In 2014, the court declined to hear an appeal of a case out of New Mexico that went against a photographer who denied a same-sex couple service.Gov. Jay Inslee lauded Thursday’s ruling, saying it was “in favor of equality for all Washingtonians.”“By ruling that intolerance based on sexual orientation is unlawful, the Court affirmed that Washington state will remain a place where no one can be discriminated against because of who they love,” Inslee said in a written statement.Stutzman had previously sold the couple flowers and knew they were gay. However, Stutzman told them that she couldn’t provide flowers for their wedding because same-sex marriage was incompatible with her Christian beliefs.Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson and the couple sued her, saying she broke state anti-discrimination and consumer protection laws, and the lower court agreed. The state’s nine high court justices upheld that verdict.The court rejected several arguments put forth by Stutzman, including the assertion that since other florists were willing to serve the couple, no harm occurred.“As every other court to address the question has concluded, public accommodations laws do not simply guarantee access to goods or services. Instead, they serve a broader societal purpose: eradicating barriers to the equal treatment of all citizens in the commercial marketplace,” the court wrote. “Were we to carve out a patchwork of exceptions for ostensibly justified discrimination, that purpose would be fatally undermined.”The case thrust the great-grandmother into the national spotlight and she testified before state lawmakers in Indiana and Kansas.Michael Scott, a Seattle attorney who worked with the American Civil Liberties Union to represent Robert Ingersoll and Curt Freed — the couple denied the flowers — had previously told justices he didn’t believe Stutzman’s floral creations constituted speech. By providing flowers for a same-sex marriage, he argued, “she’s not endorsing same-sex marriage. She’s selling what she sells.”Ferguson had said the state’s argument rested on longstanding principle, and uprooting it would weaken antidiscrimination law.After the arguments in the Supreme Court case last November, at a packed theater at Bellevue College, a large crowd of Stutzman’s supporters greeted her outside, chanting her name and waving signs that said “Justice For Barronelle.”In a February 2015 ruling, Benton County Superior Court Judge Alexander Ekstrom found that Stutzman’s refusal to provide flowers because of sexual orientation violated Washington’s anti-discrimination and consumer protection laws. The following month, Ekstrom ordered Stutzman to pay a $1,000 penalty to the state and $1 in co... https://www.abqjournal.com/951260/washington-court-rules-against-florist-in-gay-wedding-case.html

Jay Myers, florist with ‘charisma,’ dies at 55 - Albuquerque Journal

Myers helped contribute to the community outside of his store, Ausbun said, giving financial contributions to the Rio Rancho High School Rams and to young women aspiring to run for the Miss New Mexico pageant.Myers also contributed time playing music in three churches around the city, Ausbun said, even though he wasn’t in their congregations.“He was just one of the kindest people you’ve ever met,” she said. “He had this charisma and this light that was infectious to everybody. He loved delivering flowers and that he made the world a better place, one flower delivery at a time.” ... https://www.abqjournal.com/838745/jay-myers-florist-with-charisma-dies-at-55.html

El Paso, New Mexico florists create tribute to Walmart mass shooting victims - El Paso Times

Maria Cortes Gonzalez  El Paso TimesA group of florists from El Paso, Las Cruces and other parts of New Mexico are creating a tribute to the 23 victims of the El Paso mass shooting using moss and dried flowers.The goal is to use 23 silhouettes to create a colorful, emotional and uplifting visual at this weekend's opening of the El Paso County Community Healing Garden through the beauty of sunflowers, cosmos, zinnias, roses, and larkspur.The moss represents the healing garden that is being created, and the flowers in all colors represent life, people and unity.Young victims such as 15-year-old Javier Amir Rodriguez, formerly of Horizon City, will have a silhouette covered completely in flowers as their lives were cut short and didn't get to bloom, the florists said. The teen was about to start high school in El Paso.Each of the silhouettes will be holding a star in one hand, representative of the Star on the Mountain in El Paso.The silhouettes will be displayed along the roads inside Ascarate Park lined with luminarias, from 8:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 2... https://www.elpasotimes.com/story/news/2020/07/31/el-paso-new-mexico-florists-create-floral-tribute-shooting-victims/5555190002/

Signature Sweets & Flowers is your place to go for holiday flowers - NMLiving

Signature Sweets & Flowers has you covered. The owner of Signature Sweets & Flowers discussed the wide selection they have to offer. Signature Sweets & Flowers is a local Albuquerque, New Mexico florist delivering courteous, professional service and the highest quality floral and gift items around. Their experienced designers can create floral arrangements that will complement any occasion and meet your budget and style expectations as well. They also offer daily delivery service to all local funeral homes and hospitals.Choose from their nice selection of Green Plants, Blooming Plants, Dish Gardens, Fruit & Gourmet Baskets, Gift Baskets, Baby Gifts, Candy, Greeting Cards, Home Décor, Scented Candles, Silk Flowers, Stuffed Animals, and more. They offer non-contact, safe delivery too. Call them at (505) 833-5400 or visit their website. Related ... https://nmliving.com/2020/11/17/signature-sweets-flowers-is-your-place-to-go-for-holiday-flowers/