US: SAF’s 37th Annual Congressional Action Days, Washington
For Liza Roeser Atwood of Fifty Flowers in Boise, Idaho, putting that advice into practice was easy. Earlier this year, she and her team were forced to turn away orders after they failed to find laborers to help harvest seeded eucalyptus. So when Atwood joined with the other members of the Idaho delegation, she used that story to illustrate the industry’s critical need for practical solutions to the country’s current, broken immigration system — and her story hit home.
David Armellini (left) of Armellini Express Lines in Palm City, Florida, and follow Floridians prep before their next congressional appointment during SAF’s Congressional Action Days. Also shown: Mike Valade, Teleflora, Inc.; Patricia Armellini; Oscar Fernandez, Equiflor/Rio Roses and Corrine Heck, Details Flowers. Look for the event photos link here.
“That really opened their eyes that there is a crisis,” said Atwood, a longtime floral industry member but first-time CAD attendee who said she was motivated this year to attend because she wanted to help effect lasting change. “I’m here talking with the lawmakers who when they get to the floor can stand up and vote for our business, to keep it in business.”
Despite the threat of a major snowstorm, CAD drew its largest crowd in more than a decade, with 35 first-time attendees and a total delegation representing 30 states. Many SAF members who traveled to Capitol Hill on March 14 to meet with lawmakers and key staff members said they found people to be more receptive this year to the industry’s issues — tax reform, immigration reform and increased funding for the Floriculture and Nursery Research Initiative (FNRI). Some credited that change to the new administration; others said the possibility of snow, which threatened the D.C. area but ended up hitting harder farther north, helped clear the halls of Congress, giving aides and lawmakers a little more time to spend in meetings.
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