They're selling flowers of hope
After helping to raise more than $10,000 for cancer research and education programs last year, Mary Sayer and her daughter Maureen Sayer, both of Lowell, are continuing their longstanding tradition of selling daffodils for the American Cancer Society's Daffodil Days fund-raiser.
Daffodils have long been the American Cancer Society's flower of hope, ushering in spring and the hope for a cure.
Mary Sayer, 75, has been selling the flowers since Daffodil Days began in 1982. She started volunteering after she was talked into it by her sister-in-law, Maggie Martin, who worked for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and American Cancer Society.
Over the years, Mary has enlisted the help of many relatives. For the past five years, daughter Maureen, 48, has been helping her to carry on the tradition.
Together, they are community coordinators for the national campaign, preparing envelopes with order forms, collecting money and orders, and making sure everything runs smoothly.
"It makes me feel energetic, because it's the season when spring is coming," Maureen said .
"Every year I say I'm not going to do it, and every year someone I know gets sick with cancer," Mary said.
"I had two sisters who died of cancer. This year, when I was about ready to quit, my other sister" was diagnosed with breast cancer but is now doing well, she said. "It's such a good cause. How do you say no?"
Maureen, who teaches art to grades K-4 at the Peter W. Reilly School, and Mary, who taught at the Cardinal O'Connell School before her retirement, sell the flowers to staff in the Lowell public schools.
Starting at the small O'Connell School, "We progressed to the whole section we were in, and then we progressed to the whole city," Mary said.
The Sayers enlist the help of staff in each school to sort, sell, and deliver the daffodils.
"We organize with the United Teachers of Lowell and we collect the money from the teachers," Maureen said.
"The superintendent gives three people in each school a professional day to help out," said Mary. "They have a lot of fun with it."
One woman from the Rogers School sold $933 worth of daffodils, she said. The woman who sold the flowers is Donna Rogers, an employee at the school. "She calls herself 'the Daffodil Queen.' "
Since its inception, the Daffodil Days campaign has become one of the American Cancer Society's top sources of income. Over the years, it has raised more than $176 million for research, education, advocacy, and patient service programs.
Tomorrow is the deadline for placing an order for the flowers, which will be delivered during the week of March 21. To place an order or to volunteer to help, call 1-800-ACS-2345.
