If ever there was a winter that needed a sure sign of spring, this is it.

And Lynn and Anne Klocksiem want to help ensure that.

The Casper couple is among several who volunteer each spring to tie bundles of daffodils together for the annual Daffodil Days fundraiser for the local chapter of the American Cancer Society.

Deadline for ordering is this Friday. Bouquets of 10 buds each will be available for pickup on March 14 and will be delivered throughout the community from March 14 through March 21.

"We tie ribbons around the daffodils. It's therapy work," Lynn Klocksiem said.

They've been involved with the project about seven or eight years, Anne thinks.

Their son, Casper firefighter Steven Klocksiem, died of a brain tumor in May 1998. Both parents have had cancer since then.

"I have a feeling we were somewhere and we signed up to help," Anne said.

They also have been active with hospice, where their son stayed for six weeks before his death, and with the ACS Relay for Life each August.

"The way those buds bloom is miraculous, I tell you," Lynn said. "It's pure enjoyment. It lets you hope there is spring around the corner."

Jerre Jones, Daffodil Days coordinator, says the daffodils arrive in cardboard boxes, 50 bouquets to a box, from Washington state.

"They look like a sprig of asparagus," she said.

The flowers bloom after being placed in a vase of lukewarm water, often as quickly as a couple of hours after delivery.

Last year, more than 3,000 bouquets were sold locally, netting the Natrona County chapter a profit of about $23,000. Proceeds are used locally for several programs - including Reach to Recovery, for breast cancer patients; Look Good … Feel Better, for women in cancer treatment; Man to Man, for men with prostate cancer and their families; and Home Away from Home, for cancer patients and their families who need housing while in Casper for medical treatment.

Each daffodil bouquet contains 10 buds.

Jones commandeers a staff of about a dozen drivers and close to 20 "tyers," who spent a couple of intensive days working in a former cold storage building. Other couples who volunteer, along with the Klocksiems, include Diane and Joe Luck, Lucille and Tommy Schoenewald, Sally and Ox Zellner, Darlene and Fred Budack and Mary Ann and John Moler.

Cost of bouquets is $10 for one (10 flowers), $40 for five (50 flowers) and $70 for 10 (100 flowers). ACS requests a minimum of five orders for delivery. Smaller orders may be picked up at the ACS office, 907 N. Poplar, Ste. 185.

In addition to the flowers, a Boyd's Bear original, Bea R Hope, is available for $25, which includes one bouquet. She is the female companion to last year's Hugh R Hope.

Cobalt blue vases are also available for an additional $2.

To order, or for more information, call Jones at 234-8625 or the ACS office, 235-0044, by Friday.

Community News editor Sally Ann Shurmur can be reached at (307) 266-0520; sallyann.shurmur@trib.com or see her profile and blog at my.trib.com/Sal/blog