LAKE CHARLES — A Lake Charles florist has been selected to help decorate the White House this holiday season. 

This year, Kaila Ramos, owner of The Flower Shop of Lake Charles and The Flower Shop of Iowa, will travel to Washington, D.C., the week of Thanksgiving to decorate the White House in preparation for Christmas, The Advocate reported.  

“In the flower world, we're all a big community of florists here throughout the United States, and so I've seen where other florists have had the opportunity to go, and I told myself last year that I was going to look into it,” Ramos told The Advocate. “So, whenever I saw that the applications opened in July, I decided to apply, and I was just super excited because as a florist, you know, I just thought it would be super cool to be able to contribute to the White House Christmas decorating.”

Ramos was one of 150 volunteers selected across the country. 

During the application process, Ramos was asked to select what part of the decorating process would work for her, either Nov. 23 through 25, Nov. 27 through 29, or both. Ramos was selected for the first half of the volunteering, which will focus more on preparation for the presidential residence’s annual Christmas adornment. After the first group leaves, the next round of volunteers will come in to finish decorating. 

Selections for volunteers were made in early October. 

“I'm super grateful that I'm having this opportunity,” Ramos told The Advocate. “I'm excited to bring a little bit of Southwest Louisiana over there and get to contribute as part of the volunteer team. I'm also super excited to meet other people that are either in the same industry as me or have a love for our country that can't wait to be over there and volunteering for something like this.”