Community partners have been very giving as Stringfellow Elementary School works on its outdoor classroom. ‘Next school year, we should have a very beautiful outdoor classroom with picnic tables donated by Lowes and raised flower beds,’ a school spokeswoman said. Another recent donor was the Moultrie Federated Guild, which gave a $200 donation, a book titled ‘Monarch and Milkweed’ and a tray of ‘butterfly plants’ to be planted in the outdoor classroom. At the same time, Guild members delivered a $100 gift certificate for plants from Country Meadow. Front row are Principal Tret Witherspoon, Stringfellow students Sarijah Sinclair, Adamaris Fernando-Bautista, Kayden Jordan, Mi'Cashia Fuller and Silvester Carolina (holding plant); and back row are Melanie Weldon, chairman of the Guild’s Conservation Committee, Stringfellow student Mateo Barnabe-Tercero, and Guild President Elizabeth Herndon.

MOULTRIE, Ga. — The Moultrie Federated Guild has joined an effort to support monarch butterflies called “Bee Active: Creating a Milkweed Superhighway for Monarch Butterflies and other Pollinators.”

Melanie Weldon, chairman of the Guild’s Conservation Committee, said the project is in      conjunction with the Georgia Federated Women’s Club.

“We are an agriculture community and pollinators are extremely important here (and everywhere),” Weldon said. “Monarchs are important pollinators.”

While adult monarchs feed on the nectar of many plants, the larvae eat only the milkweed plant, she said.

“The monarch population has been dwindling over the last decade because of loss of breeding habitat, especially milkweed, and use of herbicides,” she said. “It is very important that people realize that the pesticides they use in the yards and gardens have a direct impact on our greater environment.”

Monarchs migrate from Canada and the north and central United States to Mexico and southern Florida every year. To establish a “monarch superhighway,” the Guild has given milkweed plants to every elementary school in the county, including the Pathways Program at Vereen and Colquitt Christian Academy. Many of the schools already have gardens or outdoor classrooms, and the Guild donated $200 to help Stringfellow Elementary build an outdoor classroom across the street; Country Meadow, a part of Sells Plant Company, gave a $100 gift certificate to the effort too.

The book “Monarch and Milkweed” by Helen Frost was also presented to each school.