Club Rotario Monterrey Metropolitano (D 4130) invites you to join Rotary Clubs from Canada to México in a multinational campaign to restore pollinator habitats throughout North America. The Save the Monarch Butterfly 60,000 Tree Challenge North American Boxcar Tour will make nine stops along a major Monarch migration route from Canada to Mexico, with Rotary Clubs at every stop rallying their communities to create pollinator gardens and donate money. Here’s an inspiring call to action en español! https://vimeo.com/739038780  The goal to raise $100,000 to plant 60,000 oyamel trees in El Rosario Butterfly Sanctuary in Michoacán, Mexico, and provide two years of follow-up care for the seedlings. You can contribute to the challenge at this link, https://www.inixar.com/proyectos/the-monarch-butterfly-60-000-tree-challenge,

In July the International Union for Conservation of Nature red-listed the migratory Monarch as endangered. Rotary Clubs at each stopover are organizing events to raise awareness of the importance of pollinators, encouraging the public to avoid pesticides and create pollinator-friendly habitats.  Click here https://operationpollination.net/  to discover how your club or district can rebuild the drastically declining populations of pollinators, who are essential to the human food supply.

The 60,000 Tree Challenge boxcar is emblazoned with butterfly art and a QR code for crowd-funding. Starting in Windsor, Ontario on Sept. 10, it will stop in Chicago, Kansas City, and Laredo in the United States, and Nuevo Laredo, Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, San Luis Potosí, and Morelia in México before ending the journey at the Butterfly Sanctuary in El Rosario on Nov. 5. Ten companies and organizations are collaborating on the boxcar tour, including Kansas City Southern and Canadian Pacific Railways, GATX, Rotary International, Operation Pollination, and the NASCO public-private coalition which fosters commercial trade networks in North America.

Photos: The boxcar with its QR code that will serve as a rolling billboard on the multinational campaign route.

Photo credit for the video:  RC Monterrey Metropolitano.  Laurie Zuckerman has the releases.