The annual Butterfly Release is on
Sunday, August 25, 2024
in the garden at Huron Hospice Bender House.
BUTTERFLIES ARE ON SALE NOW!
SALES OF BUTTERFLIES MUST CLOSE ON FRIDAY, AUGUST 2ND.
The Huron Hospice Butterfly Release is a much-loved annual event. Families and friends get together to remember and celebrate lives lived. Again, this year, you can purchase butterflies and plants that our pollinating friends love. We are selling butterfly bushes, blackeyed susans and purple coneflowers.
Butterflies cost $40
Butterfly Bushes cost $38
Blackeyed Susans and Purple Coneflowers cost $25
The Butterfly As A Metaphor
The butterfly is a symbol of transformation. Its metamorphosis starts when a female lays its eggs on milkweed. From tiny yellow eggs, the butterfly hatches and grows through the stages of a caterpillar to form a chrysalis. In the chrysalis, it forms a beautiful new butterfly. Hospice palliative care is about the metamorphosis for us and our loved ones.
For many of us, end-of-life care has transformative stages, just like the butterfly. The changes happen in the mind, the body, and the spirit. We change, as do our loved ones, when the end of life nears. Like the caterpillar, we seek growth and personal survival. We also seek safe shelter for our loved ones, just as the caterpillar does when it is a chrysalis. And like a butterfly emerging from the chrysalis, our loved one seeks rest and energy before the beginning of the next stage of their journey.
The Impact of the Butterfly Release on Hospice Residents and Their Families
Every August in the garden of Bender House we gather and celebrate the life of the butterfly and the remarkable transformation it experiences. It really is an emotional experience for families. We watch the butterfly take wing and remember that in a few short weeks they have grown from egg to caterpillar and from chrysalis to butterfly. Then they start a remarkable migration south. Our families and our loved ones are on a similar emotional journey of transformation.
The Huron Hospice Butterfly Release
and Butterfly Safety
Huron Hospice - In 2019 was officially recognized as a Monarch Waystation by Monarch Watch for the habitat we are creating for this iconic species with the help of Bayfield River Valley Trail Association BRVTA.
Our Butterfly Breeder - We work with a local supplier who takes steps to ensure that the Huron Hospice Butterfly release ceremony is not harmful to the butterfly population. To protect the butterfly population our breeder:
washes the eggs and milkweed to ensure butterflies are free of common parasites
starts each colony by replenishing their supply from the wild and has several infusions of wild stock throughout the season to prevent genetic drift of their captive population from the wild population
rears butterflies with light and temperature cues to mimic the natural cues for migration so butterflies retain the propensity to migrate
ensures shipping policies will keep butterflies safe and healthy until ready to be released
The Environmental Implications
For those who would like to do a deep dive and understand more about the circumstances affecting butterflies today please see the following links. Readers will find that loss of milkweed and overwintering habitat in California and Mexico are the primary reasons for the decline of the monarch population in recent years.
