From the President
VA JCI SENATE - THE YEAR OF D.A.I.S.Y.
Delightful Adventures In the Senate Year
2025-2026
A Message from President DAISY
The daisy is a symbol of new beginnings and hope. Blooms in spring remind us of fresh starts and renewal. It embodies love and positivity, focusing on light and inviting a joyful approach to life’s blessings. D.A.I.S.Y - Delightful Adventures In the Senate Year is our theme for this new year. We will do this by the 5 F’s - Faith, Family, Food, Friends, and Fun. Each F is a petal on our VA JCI SENATE DAISY Flower. This year, we are focusing on activation, retention, and most of all, having fun! You will earn petals and daisies by doing the items in each of the five F categories.
I am not sure when I first realized I loved Daisies. It may have been looking at my mom’s wedding album where she had daisies in her bouquet, and I remembered they were her favorite flower. I remember buying a bouquet of what they call Krazy Daisies from the grocery store once for my second mom. A traditional looking bouquet, the white petals and yellow center, but they are sprayed with multiple colors such as blue, orange, green, yellow, purple, and or pink. It turned the water different colors. How Krazy!
Daisies would also be part of my world when I worked at the hospital in Sioux Falls. I was the DAISY coordinator for the rural hospital division and helped coordinate the nominations and ceremony for each quarter. In the Gilmore Girls - my fave show ever - Loralei was proposed to with 1000 yellow daisies. In You’ve Got Mail (one of my fave rom coms), Meg Ryan’s character asks Tom Hanks’ character if he also thinks daisies are the friendliest flower. She had a col,d and he brought her a bouquet of daisies. Who can have a bad day when given daisies or flowers in general? For this reason, we will always have a bouquet of Daisies in the hospitality suite, and they will be given to our Senate visitors this year.
There is one more thing I want to let you know as to why I chose the DAISY theme. When Michael and I were at Disney World, we went to a character dinner at Animal Kingdom. Daisy Duck came around to the tables for pictures. But after she left our table, she kept flirting with Michael as she made her way around the restaurant. It was the most precious and hilarious thing. And if you didn’t know, I have a love for all things Disney, now you do. And I have a Disney cruise with one of my besties from my Jaycee days this October. So for this reason, in addition to the DAISY flower, our MASCOT this year will be DAISY DUCK.
Daisy will navigate the Senate like Lilian’s Gavel (if you were around for her year, you understand that reference). She will have her own Krazy Daisy adventures, but please take good care of her. She comes in a pink and purple carry bag, and I want her to stay as clean as possible.
I hope you will get KRAZY with the DAISIES this year and earn some fun prizes by doing things we already normally do in the Senate. But now you can get rewarded for it with some cool prizes I have been collecting all year long. Will you join me in our DAISY year to have many Delightful & (Krazy) Adventures in the 25-26 Senate Year?
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A daisy does not pretend to be a rose. Life is all about finding people who are your kind of crazy. In the world full of Roses, you should be fresh as a DAISY - you are Awesome, Every Daisy! And I hope we will all be Awesome and Krazy this year together in Virginia.
With Joy & Cheer,
Karen aka Daisy
Karen Gage #78980
President, Virginia JCI Senate
2025-2026