News & Events
Happy Mother's Day
May 01, 2008
(photo is of Julia Ward Howe)
Happy Mother' s Day!
I have a great Mom! She's 83 years young and proud of if. She loves to dance and works out a Curves several days a week. She even helps me occasionally by answering the phones and waiting on clients who come into the Studio. So in honor of my Mother and all the mothers out there, "Happy Mother's Day!"
The promotion of the celebration of Mother's Day in the US is credited to two women, Julia Ward Howe, writer and poet, who is also the author of the poem "The Battle Hymn of the Republic", and Anna Jarvis, daughter of activist Ann Marie Reeves Jarvis.
Howe is one of the 226 inductees in the National Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York. Howe was an activist in women's rights and co founder of the organization that became the American Woman's Suffrage Association. Her 1870 Mother's Day Proclamation was a reaction to the death and destruction brought about by the Civil War.
Anna Jarvis' mother Ann Marie was very involved in social work and organized women to tend wounded soldiers on both sides of the conflict. She fought to have Mother's Day recognized as a National holiday and after her death in 1905, her daughter Anna took on the challenge. In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed a Joint Resolution establishing Mother's Day to honor mothers, living and dead, emphasizing the woman's role in the family. This year Mothers Day is Sunday, May 11th.
A note about the National Women's Hall of Fame. I visited this wonderful place several years ago and would highly recommend it to anyone who has an interest in history or women's studies. I learned so much about Sojourner Truth (another inductee) who was a Florence (MA) resident, freed black woman, evangelist and reformer whose beautiful bronze statue graces a local park that I pass on my way to and from work.
We have a large assortment of gift baskets that are just perfect for every type of Mom. For the stressed out, overworked Mom we recommend our Pampered Lady Gift Basket, for the Mom with a sweet tooth, our Just Because Gift Basket has just right combination of chocolates and other yummy treats. Can't decide? A Moment in Time is my personal favorite. Take a look!
May's Health Care Celebrations
National Hospital Week (May 11 - 17) recognizes not only hospitals and their employees but all health care workers.
The first hospital in the United States was built in Philadelphia in 1751. Today, US hospitals admit 37 million patients annually, another 117 million are treated in emergency rooms, and still another 545 million are treated as outpatients. On any given day, there are patients in some 658,000 hospital beds.
National Nurses Week (May 6 - 12) (also known as RN Recognition week) recognizes the contribution and commitment nurses make. The week appropriately ends on the anniversary of the the birth of one of the most famous nurses, Florence Nightingale.
Born in Florence, Italy on May 12, 1920, Florence Nightingale was the daughter of a wealthy landowner. Her education included Greek and Latin as well as history, philosophy and mathematics. At the age of 25, she informed her family she wanted to become a nurse. This career choice was strongly opposed by her parents because, at the time, nursing was associated with working class women.
Florence obtained her father's permission in 1851 to train at the Institute of Protestant Deaconesses in Germany. Two years later she was appointed resident lady superintendent of a hospital for invalid women in London.
In 1853, she learned of British soldiers engaged in the Crimean War were suffering and dying from cholera and malaria and was given permission to take a group of nurses to Turkey to care for these men. Upon her return in 1856, shocked by the lack of hygiene and care she observed, she began a campaign to improve the quality of nursing in military hospitals.
She continued to advocate quality health care and women's rights her entire life. She began to suffer poor health, lost her sight and eventually needed full time nursing care herself. She died in 1910.
Here We Grow Again!
In addition to providing our top of the line gift baskets, we now are able to offer our clients private labeling on many of the locally produced gourmet food and spa items we use in our gift baskets! We can put your company logo or special message on hundreds of items that are made right here in Western Massachusetts. It gets even better, the minimum order size is a fraction of what is usually required by national companies. And, just like with our gift baskets, we can work with most budgets. Call for more information.
May Dates To Remember
- 1st Mother Goose Day
- 1st May Day
- 1st National Day of Reason
- 3rd Kentucky Derby
- 5th Cinco de Mayo
- 6th Nurse's Day
- 6th No Homework Day
- 10th Spring Festival At The Marketplace
- 11th Mother's Day
- 14th Root Canal Appreciation Day
- 15th National Chocolate Day
- 26th Memorial Day (observed)
- 30th Memorial Day (actual)
- 30th Hug Your Cat Day
- 11th Mother's Day
