East Vancouver woman uses flower petals to share messages of hope with neighbours
Lozan Yamolky, a former care-aid worker, made her first message out of petals to honour her friend's mother
East 51st Avenue between Knight Street and Fraser Street might be one of the most unassuming streets in Vancouver, but it's recently received a splash of colour thanks to a resident who wanted to share messages of hope during Mental Health Awareness month.
Lozan Yamolky, a former care-aid worker, says she started making her flower petal arrangements to honour one of her friends — a health-care worker — who, she says, lost her mother to COVID-19 in early April.
"When she was sick, she could not see her mom, and when she died, she couldn't even say goodbye to her mom," said Yamolky. "They couldn't even have a funeral."
Her work didn't go unnoticed.
She says it inspired some of neighbours, who started putting up small flower petal arrangements of their own all along their street.
Yamolky said she also wants to encourage people struggling with mental illness at this time.
She recently started putting up posters next to the flowers about Mental Health Awareness month, with phone numbers to mental health services and the suicide prevention hotline.
"You notice down the block all the way to the end of the block, I made those signs all the way," she said, adding she loosely attached them with strings so people could take them if they need them.
"A lot of people ... feel like they're alone," she said. "We need to show them that you're not ... you know, we're all in this together. We all are human. "
Yamolky's latest arrangement is a message to her father, whose birthday she had to skip due to COVID-19 restrictions.
She said he is struggling with his health and missing his birthday was hard on her whole family.
"Having the hotline to help people ... is a great tool," she said.
"I'm very happy that we're using this time, this crazy time, to actually spread a message of hope and support for those who need it."
