CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Women across Charlotte, all widows, got special surprise deliveries on Feb. 14 thanks to the ongoing and growing effort of one Charlotte-area mom.
Ashley Manning started the Valentine’s Day Widow Outreach Project four years ago and said she can’t believe the way it’s grown.
Four widows stood together, creating bouquets of flowers. It's a club these women wish they didn't belong to.
These women were there as volunteers with the Valentine’s Day Widow Outreach Program, where an army of volunteers spent days building bouquets. Another army delivered the bouquets to women who lost their husbands.
"The four of us will stay connected," Mandy Hayes said. "We’d never met before today but will stay connected."
WCNC Charlotte first met Mandy Hayes last year when she first started volunteering.
"Widows feel alone on Valentine’s Day and I want to give back and help widows who haven’t felt like they have somebody on [Valentine's Day]," Hayes said. "It's healing for me to come here and meet other widows who have come back to volunteer."
Dana Overby, who lost her husband of 29 years, received a bouquet delivery last year.
"I didn’t think they were for me, thought the person had the wrong address," Overby said. "I was totally surprised and it made my Valentine's Day and being a part of this today will also make my Valentine's Day."
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Emily Mendenhall lost her husband to pancreatic cancer.
"Last year was my first Valentine's Day without my husband and it meant so much to me that someone thought about that and me and it was remarkable," Mendenhall said.
This year, Mendenhall volunteered to help pay it forward and she did so with some extra special support.
"I am 18 weeks pregnant with my late husband’s baby," Mendenhall said. "She, it's a girl, is due in July and I'm so excited and hope she looks just like him. We were trying when he was diagnosed and he froze his sperm and here she is."
She said the last few days she has spent volunteering have been a roller coaster. "I know that he’s with us and that he brought her to me but it's every emotion I could think of."
"It brings us a special bond that we understand," Overby said. "We’re all grieving at different times but we're together in grief."
Organizer Ashley Manning said it’s all about the healing -- for the widows and the volunteers. She points to the 850 volunteer slots filling up in a day as proof.
"[It] just shows me that people need this, the people working need it as much as the widows getting it," Manning said. "It's just such a good feeling and you can feel it in there, so much joy and real human connection
The project has now grown beyond Charlotte and is happening in six different cities across the country.
Contact Michelle Boudin at mboudin@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.