$700
$350
73
0
Save Our Monarchs is a grassroots 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to saving the embattled monarch butterflies. We are a hands-on group, who get our fingernails dirty, planting milkweed plants – the monarch caterpillar's only source of sustenance. It’s truly the most direct, hands-on way to save the Monarch.
Get Dirty. Or Donate. Or Both.
Plant milkweed and the monarchs will come! While planting more milkweed seeds is how we will save the monarchs, there's a right and a wrong way of going about it.
Planting milkweed in the right location is critical. That's why we're not just distributing milkweed; we're working with other gardeners to ensure the seeds are planted and cared for properly.
Education is an important part of our philosophy so that gardeners, individuals and organizations feel empowered to create pollinator habitat.
Every school, scout troop, and 4-H club is invited to participate in the Save Our Monarchs Pollinator Garden Program. Once enrolled, schools will receive a FREE Pollinator Garden Mix pouch containing 17 wildflowers, 10 annuals for first-year color, plus 7 perennials for second and successive years’ bloom.
Our goal is to get EVERY school to plant a 10’ x 10’ garden plot designed just for pollinators, including monarch butterflies and bees. Our 2022 goal is to plant over 25,000 Pollinator Gardens across the United States.
The Save Our Monarchs Foundation is also actively working with state departments of roads and utility companies to adapt these vegetation management practices to provide habitat beneficial to pollinators and other species that can thrive in these otherwise under-valued yet necessary landscapes. By promoting the growth of native forbs (wildflowers), sedges, and grasses, not only do Monarchs and other pollinators, birds, reptiles, amphibians and mammals benefit, but also long-term maintenance costs are reduced, saving companies, governments, taxpayers and consumers money.
"Your project could do more to help save monarch butterflies than anything that's ever been done. It's exciting to see that someone is taking monarch preservation seriously."
-David Bohlke, Monarchs Forever
"My husband, Bruce Thomson, was a master gardener and had a passion for the environment and a special interest in monarchs. He recently died after a long battle with ALS. I will be giving out 100 milkweed seed packets at his memorial celebration at the U of MN Arboretum and making a substantial donation to Save Our Monarchs Foundation in his name."
-Janet Thomson
The Save Our Monarch Foundation is dedicated to Irvin and Gladys, my parents. We believe that the only way to save our monarchs is the same way they did: getting our fingernails dirty and planting one milkweed plant at a time.
Gladys Johnson was a patient gardener and student of all things living. She and her husband Irvin lived in the small town of Clara City, Minn., population 1,106, where they raised three sons. Gladys and Irvin especially loved the monarch butterflies that visited their backyard gardens every summer. They would be heartbroken to hear what’s happening to their populations and know they would be proud of our efforts to save them.
Already concerned that the monarch’s habitat was in danger, Irvin and Gladys spent their winter vacations driving their little pop-up camper down to Florida or Texas, planting milkweed seeds in parks and along the roadway. After Gladys died, Irvin went to Mexico where monarchs hibernate in the winter. There, he planted Oyamel fir trees to shelter the dormant monarchs until they wake in the spring to begin the life cycle once again.
We are inspired by Irvin and Gladys and their efforts to help save the monarch butterfly.
Save Our Monarchs has distributed 3+ Million packets of milkweed since 2015.
Our 2022 goal is to plant over 25,000 Pollinator Gardens across the United States.
So far, over 20,000 schools, scout troops, and other organizations are involved. This is a great hands-on experience for the students to follow the development of the garden and observe the daily growth of the Monarchs.
Much needed funding fuels our Pollinator School Garden Program. This program is at the core of our organization. This program allows us to continue giving away milkweed seeds to organizations such as schools, Scout troops, and other educational organizations. Funding also goes towards our educational programs where we teach "Rearing Monarchs in the Classroom".
We offer as much educational programming as we can in order to empower and educate individuals to support monarch conservation in any way they can.
Would you give $4 a month to support four nonprofits that are making a big difference? Join forces with other 52andChangmakers to automatically give to every Cause of the Week. Every Monday, you’ll wake up knowing you’ve already made a difference! As our community grows, so does the impact!
Together we’ve become volunteers in places we would have never expected, planted milkweed for butterflies, provided books to kids in need, helped save endangered turtles, helped turn excess food into nutrition, helped bring art to youth, educated one another about how we are connected to our delicate food systems, helped save abandoned horses and given old dogs new hope, watched foster youth shine in the spotlight of movie making, helped clean tires out of rivers… we could go on and on and on. It is an absolute joy to be a part of such an amazing network of humans making a difference.
“ALMA reconnects the lives of the formerly incarcerated back to the fabric of society. Our participants have the chance at attaining gainful employment and becoming self-sufficient. Urban Farming helps everyone involved explore the relationships between plants, animals and humans as a way of creating a profound connection to both nature and their community.” - ALMA Backyard Farms
While we’re writing this and you’re reading it, Pajaro Valley Loaves and Fishes is out there, finding ways to provide food to more people in need throughout Santa Cruz County, where one of three residents are reported to be food insecure.
ChangeMaker Login
Share