It’s been nearly seven years since a group of volunteers broke ground at What Cheer Flower Farm in Providence, Rhode Island, with a simple goal: get flowers into the hands of anyone in need of a pick-me-up. Best of all, each one of the tens of thousands of bouquets that What Cheer grows and delivers are completely free of charge.

“We want to blanket the state with flowers and create happiness and joy,” says Erin Achenbach, What Cheer’s farmer and head florist.

What Cheer regularly delivers joy to people at local hospitals, food banks, senior centers, recovery centers and more-including AIDS Care Ocean State, which provides support to those affected by HIV.

“Seeing the smiles on people’s faces who weren’t expecting it — who just came in to have a meeting with their case manager or take advantage of one of our programs — to just see this glow come off their faces is great,” says Stephen Hogan Jr. from AIDS Care Ocean State.

Located in Providence’s industrial Olneyville neighborhood, What Cheer’s flower beds lie on 2.7 acres that once housed a knife factory. And it’s safe to say that the What Cheer crew is deserving of some flowers of their own: In May, the nonprofit was awarded a record-high$500,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency for its continued revival of a land once abandoned because of industrial pollution.

“Not only do we give this space back to the neighborhood by bringing life to space that’ s quite literally dead,” says Achenbach, “but we’re an eco-landing spot with the ability to help local insect and bird populations, and that’ll only make people’s lives better.” What cheer, indeed!

“What’s good about a flower is that it doesn’t need anything else,” she adds. “Your only job when someone gives you flowers is to enjoy them.”

I took one of the bags from my car. It was still dark out. I headed for a group of three men, standing around a tree, probably using it as a windbreaker. As I walked toward them, one of them watched me, perhaps questioning my motives. “I thought you all might need some fresh new socks,” I said, handing him a pair. He looked confused at first but took them and said, “Thank you.” I gave him two more pairs for his friends. I moved on. An hour later, I had given out all the socks. Most people were sleeping, and I felt like Santa. On her first day teaching students from poor families at an after-school program in New York City, Alyssa Kapasi noticed how many kids were lining up for free sandwiches and fruit in the school cafeteria. One of the workers explained that many of these students don’t get enough to eat at home, so a school lunch or an after-school meal might be the most food they would get all day.

Kapasi, who attends private school, was very surprised. What’s more, she made up her mind to help. “I want other kids to understand that if you see a problem, you don’t have to wait to grow up to fix it,” says Kapasi. She and a group of friends are now putting their programming skills to work to create an app called Food for Thought, which will allow parents, students, and even kind-hearted strangers to donate to a lunch account for a student in need at a nearby school.

About 20 million American kids receive free lunches. Two million more can have low-price meals, and those students’ families have to pay for part of their food. When they don’t have the money on any given day, the students might have to settle for an “alternative (可替代的) meal” such as a cheese sandwich.

The app — which is getting financial (财政的) support from a GoFundMe page — provides anonymity (匿名) to those who receive lunch and donors. To receive help, a family will need only a recommendation (推荐) from a school teacher, and no one else has to know.

“I want to make an app that all users feel no shame in using,” says Kapasi. She hopes to test the app in a school district this fall.