CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Kathy Evans' husband, Bob Gore, died just a few weeks after Valentine’s Day in 2015.

“We were married 33 years. I was 53. We had saved money. We were going to dance lessons when we retired, we were going to travel, and all the sudden it’s just black,” Evans said.

What You Need To Know

  • Ashley Manning gave a valentine to her son’s preschool teacher, a widow, in 2020

  • Ashley Manning opened her flower shop, Pretty Things by A.E. Manning in 2021

  • The Valentine’s Day widow outreach program has delivered more than 120 valentines

Ashley Manning’s son Mark was in Evans’ preschool class in 2020.

“I could just see the pain in her eyes. I don’t even remember how it came up in conversation, but I knew at Valentine's Day, when I started thinking about it, that we needed to do something nice for her,” Manning said. 

Manning sent Evans a valentine that year and kept the tradition going after opening her own floral shop, Pretty Things by A.E. Manning, in 2021.

She created the Valentine’s Day widow outreach. Manning asked people to nominate widows they loved to get a surprise valentine and more than 120 people responded.

“Everything was driven by our little community here in South Charlotte of the finances to support it, the volunteers to make them, and the women that were going to be receiving them,” Manning said.

Manning is sending out valentines again this year. She has several businesses that have donated items for the deliveries, and volunteers to help bundle and make deliveries, but it is not enough to cover the more than 300 nominees she has gotten this year.

If you would like to volunteer for putting together valentines, making deliveries or making a financial contribution, email Manning at Vdaywidowoutreach@gmail.com.