The Village Floral and Gifts Gives Back

Left to Right: Carol Smith, George Speer, Peggy Speer, Emily Gammon, Allie Graves, April Graves & Debbie Liles. (Not pictured: Ruth Bearden)
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The Village Floral and Gifts kept their doors open a little later last night to accept blanket and bear donations for Casa & Children’s Advocacy Center.

The Village Floral & Gifts is an official donation station for Casa & Children’s Advocacy Center, and they accept donations any time of the day. Allie Graves, Miss Texas Outstanding Teen, was in attendance last night and gave her personal testimony describing how the blanket and bear donations truly make a difference. “There is an urgent need, at least in the Texarkana area and advocacy center, where kids are coming in to get a forensic interview and they have no blankets or bears,” she said. “This is like an emotional support for these kids and me being former foster youth and now adopted, it’s something that’s really near and dear to my heart,” she added.

The event also means a lot to Peggy Speer, owner of the establishment. “This is kind of our way of giving back to the community because we’ve been so incredibly blessed,” she said. “And because we’ve been so incredibly blessed, what better way to give back to the community than to help kids in need,” she added.

In addition to being a donation station, The Village Floral & Gifts offers a variety of items, all unique and mostly handmade. Some of the establishment’s newer and more popular items include edible birdhouses that are coated in various seeds that the birds can live in once they eat all the seeds off of it. One of their best-selling items is their candles. Speer says their candles are made of beeswax and soy, so they don’t produce soot. “You can burn one for 12 hours like we do every day and they actually burn toxins off in the air,” said Speer.

Emily Gammon holds edible bird feeders from The Rustic Sparrow.

The Village Floral & Gifts also makes and sells unique floral arrangements, and they use some of their own items for the vase. Some of the arrangements currently available are placed in items like candles, Dr. Pepper cases and re-usable dishes.

Speer says they can also personalize and customize any of the items they have in their store. “We handmake most of the things ourselves,” she said. “What we don’t handmake, we try to then go local. We try to stay in Texas, but if we can’t stay in Texas, we go out a little bit, but all of our stuff is from the South,” she added. Additionally, Speer says they offer after-hours shopping for groups, allowing guests to shop privately for events such as Christmas parties, Bridal Showers and more. The establishment will also provide hors d’oeuvres and beverages for such events.

The Village Floral & Gifts are open Monday through Thursday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and on Saturdays from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. More information regarding their unique items or to plan future events can be found on their Facebook page.

In addition to donating blankets and bears, Venmo and email donations are also accepted.

More information about making donations to Casa & Children’s Advocacy Center can be found on the center’s website, Allie Graves’ personal Facebook page, the Miss Texas’ Outstanding Teen Facebook page, What Love Can Do Facebook page, and The Village Floral & Gifts Facebook page.

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