Admittedly, we’re extremely late in making our quarterly donations this year. However, we surely haven’t forgotten. It’s just been a craaazy year for us (in good ways 😉) and we’re finally catching up on all of our business responsibilities again.
We took five percent of the total sales for Q1 (January-March) and Q2 (April-June) then had the amounts of $148.40 and $88 (we rounded up to $90) to donate to two eco-friendly organizations.
Before we even had our donation amounts, we knew the direction we wanted to go in terms of seeking out organizations. This year in particular, we’ve been hearing more about Monarch butterflies being endangered so much so that they’re close to extinction. We did some research and came across two non-profit organizations, The Xerces Society and Save Our Monarchs.
The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation is a science-based international nonprofit that protects the natural world through the conservation of invertebrates and their habitats. Their website details the name Xerces, which “comes from the now-extinct Xerces blue butterfly, the first butterfly known to go extinct in North America as a result of human activities. The Xerces blue's habitat was destroyed by development in the sand dunes of San Francisco, and the species was declared extinct by the 1940s.”
Since 1971 the Xerces Society has worked with scientists, land managers, farmers, educators, policy makers, and communities to protect pollinators, conserve endangered species, reduce pesticide use and impact, and advocate for change through activism and advocacy.
Save Our Monarchs is grassroots 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that is dedicated to saving the endangered Monarch butterflies through the distribution of common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) seeds, which, also like the Monarch, has seen a 90% decrease due to the over development of land and the use of weed killers. While milkweed is the only source of food for monarch caterpillars, Save Our Monarchs is working to distribute seeds across the country to promote the recovery of the monarch and their habitat.
Photos: courtesy of the Xerces Society and Save Our Monarchs
In fact, with our donation of $90 to Save Our Monarchs, we will receive 200 packets of milkweed seeds that we will be adding to the website as a free item. If you would like to plant them in your yard or give to a friend or family just add them to your cart with your most recent Fern x Flow order and we’ll include them with your local delivery or USPS shipment! In order to maximize the distribution of these seeds, please add no more than three packets to your order.
If you'd like to learn more about or donate to the Xerces Society, follow them on social media or visit them online. Additionally, you can donate and learn more about Save Our Monarchs by visiting their website.
Thanks to all of our customers for making these donations happen!