Monarch Butterfly Workshop Attracts 48 Attendees In Moorestown

MOORESTOWN, NJ — A total of 48 people came out to learn about the monarch butterfly at the Moorestown Friends of Enrichment Program’s (FEP) 2019 workshop on the last Sunday in August at the Moorestown Friends Meetinghouse. FEP serves financially disadvantaged, underserved Moorestown children. Glenn and Candy Curtis of Marlton and their son, Sean, now a senior at Cherokee High School, led the workshop as they did in the past two years.

Among the attendees were 18 FEP children and parents; a staff member of Elizabeth Woodford Cedar Run Wildlife Refuge; Barbara Rich, a member of the board and a founder of STEM (Save the Environment of Moorestown) and several other members of that organization; Jennifer Dunne, head of children’s services at the Moorestown Library, and her daughter, Amanda Appleton; and several adults and children from the community at large.

Once again, the Curtises brought to Moorestown a large see-through tent, as well as smaller enclosures, in which specimens were temporarily housed. Thanks to these props, workshop participants had a unique opportunity to observe monarchs at all stages of their development, from eggs to caterpillars to chrysalises, from which newborn butterflies emerged, weak, wet, crumpled, and not yet ready to fly.

In his informal remarks, Glenn Curtis spoke of the uncertain future of the monarchs, an endangered butterfly species, whose numbers have been declining alarmingly. More than 90 percent of the species’ population has been decimated over the last 20 years, Curtis said. He noted that it was after attending a monarch butterfly workshop that his family became involved in helping the monarchs survive in an increasingly hostile environment.

“It was Sean who got us started,” Curtis said. “He was fascinated with insects. He loved them.”

Sean was hooked, and he was persuasive. Glenn and Candy couldn’t resist. They bought one milkweed plant in the hope of attracting egg-laying females to their garden, milkweed leaves being the only nourishing food for monarch caterpillars. From that single plant, milkweeds multiplied in their yard, providing food for generation after generation of monarchs during the summer months and providing the Curtis family with hours of enjoyment.
Diane Miskowski, who attended the workshop, told the group that she grows milkweeds in her garden and is the STEM member in charge of the sale of milkweeds at STEM’s booth on Moorestown Day. When the time came to say goodbye to the monarchs, the group headed toward Moorestown Friends School’s athletic field. There, the children lined up. Sean opened the tent, reached inside, gently retrieved one butterfly and placed it on the finger of the first child in line.

One by one, 13 monarch butterflies were released to head for a resting place among the trees. Soon, they will leave South Jersey, head south on a perilous journey that, with luck on their side, may take them as far as their wintering grounds in the distant oyamel forest preserves of Mexico.

FEP runs a Sunday afternoon program of children’s activities during the school. For more information about the program, call Monique Begg at 856-235-3963.