COEUR d’ALENE — Felicia Edwards and Annette Johnson jumped for joy and wrapped their arms around each other when they realized six bouquets of long-stem red roses were gifts to Tesh, Inc.

"I didn't know," Johnson said, wide-eyed and smiling. "We had no idea."

"I didn't know either," a grinning Edwards said. "It's good. I'm excited."

The roses were indeed a happy surprise for Tesh clients, who cheered when Tesh CEO Frances Huffman explained the flowers were delivered as part of the 26th annual Coeur d'Alene Rotary Rose Sale delivery day. Tesh is a nonprofit that helps people with disabilities reach their full potential.

"People in Rotary have bought these roses for people at Tesh,” Huffman said to the smiling crowd that gathered in the vocational room. “You’ll each take some roses, and then you can decide what you’re going to do with your rose."

When asked who they would give their roses to, Johnson and Edwards giggled and pointed at each other.

But Johnson had a feeling she would be getting a rose from someone else, too — Friday was her one-year anniversary with boyfriend, David Decker.

"It feels great," Decker said of being able to share the gift of a beautiful rose with his beautiful lady.

Huffman said for clients of Tesh, the roses aren’t just gifts they keep. They're treasures they share with loved ones and caregivers.

"This is their day to give," she said. "The excitement you see is not that, ‘This is for me,’ it’s that, ‘What a privilege I have to give something beautiful.’ It’s not about, ‘This is mine.’

"Whether it's one rose or a dozen, it's a re-gift. That's where their heart is."

Coeur d'Alene Rotary members Steve Childers and Katie Hunt delivered the bouquets to Tesh. They were touched to know how much these small floral gifts mean to the Tesh community.

“That goes beyond what you would imagine a rose represents,” Hunt said.

Tesh was one of many organizations and individuals that received a total of 1,265 dozen roses delivered by an army of cheerful Rotarians. Of those, 86 dozen went to local nonprofits such as ElderHelp of North Idaho, Union Gospel Mission, Hospice of North Idaho, Safe Passage Violence Prevention Center and others.

"We give the roses to survivors who are staying at our confidential shelter," said Katie Coker, executive director of Safe Passage. "The roses that Rotary donates brighten up the house and help individuals who are staying there know that their lives are important and that people in this community care about them and their children."

Rotary members sell the roses each year as a way to raise funds to invest back into the community. This year they sold 106 dozen more than in 2015.

Hunt said Rotary President Heidi Rogers has a passion for telling Rotary's story so people can learn more about the benevolent group and how it applies to them.

"This feels like one way, one chapter in that book, that we can reach out to our community and open up the possibilities of what Rotary does," she said. "The focus is 'service above self.'"

Childers said he loves the surprise of walking into someone's work or up to someone's door with roses to brighten their day.

"To me that's fantastic," he said. "It's just awesome. This here (at Tesh) today, I can't even tell you how much this meant."