10/02/2026
⭐️ Gary’s Project 2026 ⭐️
We believe every child deserves to feel included. Homecoming is a time of fun and community spirit for our children. For some of those children - these times can be a bit of a sensory overload or something they may not normally participate in.
Every year Wildflower crafts hundreds of mums but the most special ones to our hearts are the ones that come from what we call “Gary’s Project”.
Named for our nephew, Gary, who is a SAI student in Dayton, this annual tradition for our shop donates a mini homecoming mum (corsage) to every single SAI student in a selected school district. Gary suffers from MECP-2 duplication syndrome and is nonverbal and has several sensory aversions.
These aren’t just normal mums. They’re sensory friendly. Soft ribbon, no noisemakers, no small parts that can come off and be ingested, a cloud soft yarn to be worn around the neck. To us - every single one of these children is Gary. We always want them to know they are so loved, even if they have a different “normal” than the typical kiddo. We worked with Gary to finally craft something that was approved and hopefully suited the needs and aversions of others like him.
Starting in July our staff worked constantly to cut, staple, and glue to produce 125 of these mums to donate to Nederland ISD. We were so happy to treat our Bulldog friends this year!
We just want to say a huge thank you to the educators, family, friends, and community who all worked with us to help make this project happen! I want to also applaud my amazing crew who worked weeks on end on this project with me. Please know our shop will ALWAYS do anything we can to make our products sensory friendly and keep everyone included ❤️
We can’t wait for next year to take care of another local school district and continue to spread kindness, love, and acceptance.
