The Association for Butterflies mini-grant was awarded to Tradewinds Elementary School The grant will create or improve habitat for pollinators and provide for nature and community to come together.

Tradewinds Elementary School
Coconut Creek, Florida 33073

My class is trying to revitalize a butterfly garden at our school which was originally built in memory of a former Tradewinds student, Arielle Annacker, who tragically lost her life to Ewing’s Sarcoma on January 19, 2001.

Over the past 20 years, the garden has become completely lost and overgrown. Many did not even know the garden existed because it was entirely covered by invasive plants and weeds. Since the pandemic, my students have worked tirelessly over the past two months, giving up their recess time to clean out the area by hand in preparation of the garden.

In addition, we live three miles from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School where 17 angels lost their lives on February 14, 2018. Each year to remember the victims, our county participates in a kindness project. This garden is our kindness project.
We want to bring peace to our community and to our school.

We also live in the butterfly capital of the world! The local high school is even named after the monarch butterfly! We want to create a space to honor our city while helping to protect and repopulate the area with beautiful butterflies.

Butterflies need our help. Our goal is to provide them with a sustainable habitat where they can carry out their life cycle and flourish. The garden will be complete with both host plants and nectar plants. We will provide plenty of cuddle space where the butterflies can bask in the sun to warm themselves, as well as places that will protect them from the elements and other creatures. We want to be extremely careful with the plants that we choose, as we do not want any that are treated with insecticides. The students want to create small bowls that will be filled with water for the butterflies, as well as a fountain for them.