It was a poinsettia wonderland at Moody Clinic in Brownsville Thursday morning as 1,400 poinsettia plants were unloaded from a delivery truck that were to be distributed to customers who purchased them.
It took about 45 minutes for volunteers to unload the poinsettias and then prepare them to be either picked up or delivered to individuals and businesses who purchased them during the Moody Clinic’s annual Poinsettia Plant Sale.
The gates to the clinic opened at 8 a.m. and the first individual to pick up his or her plants had lined up at 7:55 a.m. to pick up their plants.
Volunteers from Rivera High School Athletics’ Department, Wells Fargo Advisors, State Farm and Allstate were helping with the unloading and loading of the huge plants.
Volunteer Naylah Trevino, 18, a senior at Rivera High School, said she decided to assist at Thursday’s event because it is a great way to give back to the community. Trevino and her fellow athletes unloaded the poinsettias from the trucks and got them in order.
“As athletes it’s a good opportunity for us to help out,” she said. “It was a good team effort with the team and I.”
The first huge delivery was to go to Hughston Insurance Agency that ordered more than 300 poinsettias.
“They have been huge supporters of Moody Clinic for many years and they are our largest account,” said Christine Cavazos, development and communications director for Moody Clinic.
The Poinsettia Plant Sale is the clinic’s largest fundraiser and the community has supported regularly through the years, Cavazos said. This year, the poinsettias sold out faster than in previous years, Cavazos and Jessica Cuevas, the clinic’s director, said. They hope to order more next year.
“The poinsettia plants they just bring holiday year, but I think most people now, after such a difficult two years they want to get back and they want to support the community,” Cavazos said.
For the past 60 years, the Moody Clinic has been providing rehabilitation services to children who need the service the most. Its mission is to provide the highest quality of rehabilitative services to maximize the potential of children with special needs.
“These fundraisers if we don’t do them, then we are not available to provide that affordable care for these patients,” Cuevas said. “It’s amazing that the Brownsville community comes out year after year; they buy our plants, they talk about our plants and new people will come in and want to order plants…it’s just a fabulous fundraiser for us.”
Hector Hernandez, a State Farm agent and a volunteer at Thursday’s event, said he purchased some of the poinsettias to give out to his clients. In addition, he was using his State Farm van to help deliver the plants to those customers who had ordered them.
“This is the best time to think of others not just ourselves, as they say it is better to give than receive, so what we are doing as an agency, I’m self-employed, I’m a small business, but what better way to give back especially after a pandemic,” Hernandez said, adding that his staff has been working with Moody Clinic over the past few weeks getting ready for the holiday season.
“We are looking at this as post pandemic. We have been vaccinated and hopefully no one has stayed away from this organization…we want to make sure this organization is available for the children that need Moody Clinic,” Hernandez said.
