Lancaster County’s Paige Hershey didn’t sit idle during the pandemic.
For one thing, the East Lampeter Township 12-year-old got busy entering contests. One was for photography, another for writing.
“She’s just driven,” said Paige’s mother, Heather.
That drive led to success for the seventh-grader. Paige had the winning entry in this year’s Royer’s Flowers & Gifts Kids Club birthday card design contest.
Her design will adorn the electronic card that kids club members will receive on their birthdays in the coming year. Paige’s prize is a free flower delivery on her next birthday.
Paige, one of five siblings, loves to draw (mainly horses) and read, Heather said. Paige plays field hockey and basketball and swims.
“She’s a really fun kiddo,” her mother said.
The Royer’s Kids Club is free to ages 5 to 12. With parental permission, children may register for the kids club at any Royer’s store or online at royers.com/kidsclub. Kids club benefits include a membership card, online activities, a quarterly e-mail newsletter, contests and events.
Category: News
Entries due July 15 for this year’s Royer’s Kids Club birthday card contest
Just in time for summer vacation, the Royer’s Kids Club has a challenge for children ages 5 to 12.
We’re looking for our next birthday card design, one that all kids club members will receive in the year ahead.
As a reward, the designer of the winning entry will receive a free bouquet delivery on his or her birthday.
To enter the contest, which begins June 14, pick up an entry form at any Royer’s store or download one here.
Entries must be dropped off at a Royer’s store by July 15.
Good luck to everyone. We can’t wait to see what you come up with!
Royer’s Flowers donates $3,000 to Helping Harvest Food Bank
For every dollar donated, Helping Harvest can acquire $20 worth of food to help people in need in Berks and Schuylkill counties.
By that measure, the food bank will leverage a $3,000 donation from Royer’s Flowers & Gifts into $60,000 worth of food.
Tom Royer, president and CEO of Lebanon-based Royer’s, said the donation reflects his family-owned company’s gratitude for the support it has received during the pandemic. Royer’s 16 stores include Reading, Shillington and Wernersville in Berks County.
“We had to reinvent our company, and at times it was a painful process,” Royer said, “but our strong team’s dedication and hard work enabled us to come through this as a better company. It is our privilege to give back to our communities and help families that are struggling to put food on the table.”
Doug Long is director of development for Helping Harvest, which he said “is extremely grateful for the continued support and generosity of Royer’s Flowers and Gifts. In the past year, we have seen the need for food assistance in our community skyrocket. Thankfully, because of concerned supporters like Royer’s, we have been able to ensure that no family needs to go hungry during these difficult times.”
Brighten up your back yard with rugged outdoor canvas art
Sue Pappas needed a name for her business that was free of any potential trademark issues.
She settled on West of the Wind.
“I don’t know why, and it’s a very odd name,” she allowed, but it was one she thought no one else in her industry would have.
Winds of change would blow, however. Within months of the 2007 launch of the Durant, Okla.-based company, Pappas and her two partners at the time realized that the market for indoor wall décor was saturated.
Turning their gazes outward, literally, they saw a void in the outdoor décor realm. They sought to fill it by offering giclee canvas prints for outdoor use.
Beginning with one size and 50 images in 2008, West of the Wind now wholesales more than 550 images that are available among three canvas sizes.
The pandemic has kept Americans in their own back yards, prompting a consumer splurge on outdoor decor. Seizing on that, Royer’s Flowers & Gifts began carrying the vibrant, high-quality West of the Wind products this year.
Royer’s offers the canvases in two sizes – 24 by 24 inches and 30 by 40 inches – for $99.99 and $199.99, respectively. They can be purchased in-store or online.
Protection from UV rays and water
Approximately 80 percent of the designs are based on paintings, with photographs comprising the other 20 percent, Pappas said. West of the Wind has licenses with the artists, who provide digital files to the company from high-resolution scans of their original artwork.
Pappas’ team then crops or makes any other necessary changes before sending the files for printing. Giant Epson inkjet printers (giclee is a French word meaning “to spray or to squirt with a nozzle”) transfer the design onto canvas. A proprietary lacquer is applied to the front and back to protect the canvas from harmful UV rays and water damage.
The canvas is gallery wrapped, meaning that the image appears on the sides of the frame as well as the front. The canvas is attached to vinyl stretcher bars that aren’t affected by moisture, cold or heat. Stainless steel staples, which can’t corrode, attach the stretched canvas to the stretcher bars.
Each print comes with hardware for outdoor installation. Two L-shaped hooks can be screwed into stone, stucco, brick, wood or aluminum. Brackets on the back of the canvas slide over the hooks. The hanging system is designed to withstand 60 mph winds.
West of the Wind guarantees its products for two years. But in these uncertain times, perhaps the best the outdoor canvases can do is help you do a better job of living in the moment.
Royer’s Flowers funds 90,000 meals with $15,000 donation to Central PA Food Bank
Every dollar donated to the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank can provide six nutritious meals to people in need.
By that measure, Royer’s Flowers & Gifts will fund 90,000 meals with its $15,000 donation to the Harrisburg-based food bank, which serves 27 counties.
Of its 16 stores overall, family-owned Royer’s operates 13 (including one Stephenson’s Flowers & Gifts store in Harrisburg) in the food bank’s market region.
Tom Royer, president and CEO of Lebanon-based Royer’s, said the donations reflect the company’s gratitude for the support it has received during the pandemic.
“We had to reinvent our company, and at times it was a painful process,” Royer said, “but our strong team’s dedication and hard work enabled us to come through this as a better company. It is our privilege to give back to our communities and help families that are struggling to put food on the table.”
Joe Arthur is executive director of the food bank.
“We are grateful for the support of Royer’s Flowers & Gifts,” Arthur said. “As we transition into the recovery phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, this donation will help us provide healthy, nutritious food to those families, children, seniors and veterans who are still working to get back on their feet in the wake of the health and economic crisis.”
For more information about the food bank, visit centralpafoodbank.org.
Royer’s Flowers donates $1,000 to Clare House in Lancaster
Royer’s Flowers & Gifts has donated $1,000 to the non-profit Clare House in Lancaster.
Family-owned Royer’s donates $10 to women’s charities for every purchase of its Admiration arrangement, which is available year-round.
Clare House’s mission is to transform the lives of women and their children through an employment-focused program providing safety, housing and supportive services with the goal of financial stability. Clare House celebrated its 40th anniversary this year.
Photo: Geoff Royer, vice president of central operations, left, and Tom Royer, CEO, of Royer’s Flowers & Gifts, with Brittany Garner, board member, Clare House.
Royer’s Flowers saluting veterans with free red, white and blue bouquets Nov. 11
Royer’s Flowers & Gifts will continue an annual tradition when it honors veterans with free patriotic bouquets on Nov. 11.
The bouquets – featuring a red carnation, a white carnation and a blue bow – will be available in-store only at any of Royer’s 16 locations in Berks, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Lancaster, Lebanon and York counties.
Royer’s employees and customers are required to wear masks for their safety as part of the effort to combat COVID-19.
“We always look forward to Veterans Day and the opportunity to show our appreciation for the men and women who have selflessly served our country,” said Tom Royer, CEO of Royer’s.
Non-veterans may purchase the bouquet for $1.90.
Royer’s Flowers donates $1,000 to Power of the Purse in Berks County
Royer’s Flowers & Gifts has donated $1,000 to the Berks County Community Foundation’s Power of the Purse program for women.
Family-owned Royer’s donates $10 to women’s charities for every purchase of its Admiration arrangement, which is available year-round.
Begun by a group of women in 2012, Power of the Purse pools individual donations and awards grants to area nonprofits that work to improve the lives of local women and children.
Photo: Geoff Royer, vice president of central operations, left, and Tom Royer, CEO, of Royer’s Flowers & Gifts, with Rochelle Grey, steering committee, Power of the Purse in Berks County.
Thank you for helping ‘Royer’s Stems Hunger’ benefit 11 area food banks
Royer’s Flowers & Gifts’ annual food drive collected more than 1,100 pounds of non-perishable items to benefit 11 food banks in the company’s seven-county market.
Royer’s Stems Hunger, as the food drive is known, ran June 27-July 4 at our 16 stores.
The recipient food banks were:
Helping Harvest in Berks County; New Hope Ministries and Salvation Army of Carlisle in Cumberland County; Hershey Food Bank and Manna Food Pantry at Pennbrook UCC in Dauphin County;
South Central Community Action Programs in Franklin County; Columbia Food Bank, Ephrata Area Social Services and Food Hub/Lancaster County Council of Churches in Lancaster County; Lebanon County Christian Ministries; St. Matthew Food Pantry in York County.
Food drive donors received a free carnation for each non-perishable food item they contributed, up to six per visit.
Royer’s Stems Hunger has topped 1,100 pounds in each of its 10 years for a total of nearly nine tons collected.
Royer’s Kids Club celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with free event March 14 in all stores
Mum’s the word at the March 14 Royer’s Kids Club event. Molly O’Mum, that is.
Children ages 5 to 12 will have an opportunity to make their own St. Patrick’s Day mum character, complete with smiling face, shamrock ribbon and green top hat.
Slots are available at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
Registration is required by calling your the nearest Royer’s store.
The other remaining 2020 kids club events are June 27, Aug. 15 and Nov. 7.