Mercy Home cares deeply about honoring God’s creation through the stewardship of our planet and the innumerable plant and animal species that inhabit it. That’s why we are incredibly proud of our youth and coworkers for the environmental initiatives they’ve undertaken since last fall to make our Home more environmentally friendly.

Of course, in addition to being environmentally friendly, there are also therapeutic, recreational, and educational benefits to our young people. This space will allow our kids to explore and participate in our after-school programs where they will learn the science behind tracking butterflies, practice photography, and engage in other sensory exploration.

The sanctuary also holds an important cultural component for many of our young people, particularly those of Mexican heritage. In Mexico, the monarch butterfly symbolizes the souls of deceased relatives who come back on the Day of the Dead to visit their loved ones. When our young people see monarch butterflies in this beautified and serene space, they will be reassured that the impact they make will exist in some permanent way, even as so much changes around us.

“[Incorporating this cultural awareness] ties the garden back to the youth, making them feel heard and seen in our community as Latino,” said Gloria Aguilera, Mercy Home’s coordinator of tutoring and after school programs and another coworker who took the lead on this project.

Because monarch butterflies have been in decline in recent years, both Bowlin and Aguilera hope that our butterfly sanctuary will be a safe place for monarchs to stop on their annual migration from Canada to Mexico. Our coworkers will plant milkweed to create a nurturing place for them to safely grow.

The butterfly sanctuary is something that Bowlin and Aguilera hope will be the start of a larger Mercy Home response to the pollution that affects Chicago residents, including the families of our young people.

“We feel that we need to bring so much awareness [to the issue],” Aguilera said. “[So] we will start here with these tools we have and we hope the families, as well as the community, will see what we’re doing and that will encourage them to try to [make changes] on their own.”

In addition to the environmental benefits, the sanctuary will be another venue for healing at the Home. In the planning stages, our coworkers listened to our kids who expressed a desire for an outdoor space they could use as part of their work with their therapists or simply as a place to spend time with their peers. 

The families also made seed bombs, which are wads of seeds in clay or recycled paper. These can be tossed into unused lots, alleyways, or other abandoned spaces. Once the seeds sprout, they begin to create micro meadows of native plants that will bring beauty wherever they land. Some of families also took seed bombs home for their own gardens so they could add these plants to their own spaces.

Though the butterfly sanctuary is one of the more tangible signs of Mercy Home’s commitment to environmental change, it is just one of many green initiatives our coworkers have been developing. They have also implemented compost bins and gotten rid of disposable and Styrofoam plates in the cafeterias. Aguilera has also scheduled educational programs for our kids to learn more about environmental issues and learn ways that they can make a difference in the city.

Bowlin noted that the care and preservation of our planet is something that interests many of our young people.

“They’re really passionate about trying to help,” she said. “These kids are smart, they’re not oblivious [to the problems they’re facing].”

Our coworkers also hope to inspire our young people by showing that even the little things they do can make a big difference over time.

“It takes many drops of rain to make a storm, one drop isn’t going to be enough,” Bowlin said. “But if you have enough, you can really do things. That’s the narrative we’re trying to push [with the young people]. I know it seems small [and] overwhelming, but it’s not an excuse to give up or say that it doesn’t affect me. There are things we can do [to make a difference].”

By modeling to our children and their families the way that small changes can make a big difference over time, we can all be part of saving our planet.