Ashley Manning
Founder
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A Bit About Me
I am a married mom of 4 kids - 13, 11, 9, & 5. I am a Pittsburgh native and attended Virginia Tech, where I met my husband 20 years ago. We moved to Charlotte in 2006 and have called it home ever since. I have always had a love for creating beautiful things. During the Covid-19 pandemic, I founded my business - Pretty Things by AE Manning - making flower arrangements as an outlet from it all. Since then it has continued to grow and spread joy throughout the community. This gave me the platform to start the Valentines Day Widow Outreach Project. The growth of this project has been a beautiful thing to witness. Hundreds of lives touched and so much love spread.
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Widows Served
2021
2022
2023
2024
The vision to show love to those who were hurting on Valentine's Day came to life. The early goal was to find 25-30 Widows in our area and gift them with flowers and gift bags. Within weeks we had funding, volunteers and the names of 125 local Widows.
The founder experienced some health issues in late 2021 and into 2022. Not sure if she could physically manage the project she took a leap of faith and posted her goals to social media. In less than a month the project had almost quadrupled from the previous year. Local vendors donated items for the gift bags, volunteers and funds poured in as media outlets shared the story. On February 14 we served 400 local widows.
Goals were big and we met them in 2023. Many widows who received gifts over the last two years signed up to volunteer. We watched love grow and blessed 800 local widows on Valentine's Day. Pittsburgh, PA and Hutchinson, MN also kicked off the Outreach in their communities.
In 2024 we added three new locations for the Valentine's Day Widow Outreach Project. Buffalo, NY, Nashville, TN and The Woodlands, TX all served local Widows. Wexford, PA served 250 Widows in their second year and Hutchinson, MN was back for the second year as well! In Charlotte we outreach the Manning driveway and moved to a community park to hold the event. 1100 area widows and widowers received a gift on Valentine's Day!
2025
The best is yet to come!
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