Hy-Vee’s donation benefits butterflies

To the editor:

Last summer, I approached several Hy-Vee stores in Cedar Rapids, Iowa City and Coralville, seeking their clear plastic containers and lids to recycle for rearing monarch caterpillars in homes, libraries, schools. We also gave out eggs at our monarch conservation presentations.

Monarchs in Eastern Iowa (MEI) is not a non-profit and can't raise funds to cover such costs. Most stores generously offered new containers and lids, and expressed interest and concern about the decline of monarch butterflies.

I was grateful for their 'gifting” new containers, immediately filling these with some of the hundreds of eggs and caterpillars we found, dispersing to a few members of our group to get out to the public.

This thank you may be late in coming, but heartfelt still from all of us in MEI.

Patty Ankrum

Mount Vernon