No matter your age, Meghan Regan says a flower is the simplest way to put a smile on someone’s face.

Throughout a sad and difficult year, she’s been giving our most vulnerable population something to smile about.

“So it actually started at our dining room table. At the beginning of COVID last year when it was coming to the area, we knew that a lot of people in nursing homes couldn’t have visitors,” said Meghan Regan, founder of The Tulip Project.

Meghan started The Tulip Project during the pandemic, giving flowers, crafts, and letters to the elderly.

This is the second year the organization is collecting flowers from the community for Mother’s Day and arranging them into beautiful bouquets.

With visitation now allowed in nursing homes, this Mother’s Day will much brighter than the last, but Meghan still wants to do her part in spreading joy.

“So we’re just hoping to brighten their day and show them that there’s a a light at the end of the tunnel,” Regan said.

Rose Lungreen volunteered to help put the bouquets together. She’s a mother and grandmother and has seen firsthand how isolating a nursing home can be.

“My own mom was in a nursing home and I know, I just praise the lord that she didn’t have to go through this COVID because it would have killed all of us as well as her,” Lungreen said.

Meghan and her team will be delivering six of these bouquets to three area nursing homes, giving the flowers to the residents just in time for Mother’s Day.

“This year it’s going to be in person, families are going to be able to hug each other, touch each other and hold each other’s hands and say ‘Mom, I love you,’” she said. “Mom is actually going to be able to be there and have physical touch. It’s dramatically different, you just cannot compare this year to last year.

Even after the pandemic ends, Meghan plans to continue on with The Tulip Project.

She says there’s always a reason to give back, and community members willing to help.