Wings of Hope

Tagged Monarchs at
Memorial Butterfly Garden Dedication

Hi Butterfliers,

Tagged Monarchs were released at a dedication ceremony for a butterfly memorial garden last week.

Gerald Axelbaum's fifth graders at The College School in St. Louis, Missouri raised the Monarchs. What a great job they did! These Monarchs were just beautiful and drew so many people's interest to the world of butterflies. They brought something very special to the moment and to the parents that donated the garden in memory of their daughter.

The beautiful new garden was donated by Robert and Dorte Equitz in honor of their late daughter, Annika Louisa.

Barry Walter, maintenance director for this Houston community contacted me about purchasing butterflies for the release. Instead, I put him in touch with Gerald Axelbaum and his students, who love to donate their butterflies to Wings of Hope releases. I knew Gerald had some butterflies just ready to go! Of course, these Monarchs were tagged before the release.

Wings of Hope is the IBBA program that connects butterfly farmers wishing to participate in the program, with worthy special events, such as Barry's garden dedication.

IBBA Wings of Hope butterflies have gone to children's cancer camps, Relay for Life events, a special 911 release in Massachusetts with 911 butterflies released, a Molly Bish release last summer, Ronald McDonald House releases, etc.

A special thanks to Gerald Axelbaum's students for lovingly raising the Monarchs and generously sending them to Barry's release in Texas.

Thanks to the IBBA for being the connecting point for this and many beautiful releases through the Wings of Hope program.

Linda Rogers
Monday, November 17, 2003