[Insert date] [Insert your name, address, email and phone number

[Insert date]
[Insert your name, address, email and phone number]
[Insert institution name and address]
Re: Please help bring monarchs butterflies back from the brink
Dear [insert name],
Have you noticed there aren’t as many monarch butterflies as there used to be? I remember
seeing them in [insert community name] each summer. But monarch numbers have declined by
95 per cent in the past couple decades due to loss of the habitat and milkweed plants they need to
survive. The good news: You can help bring monarchs back!
I live in the neighbourhood and was wondering if [insert name of school, faith group, business or
institution] might be interested in helping monarchs and other butterflies by planting a butterfly
garden on your property.
What’s a butterfly garden? Butterfly gardens feature native flowering plants like brown-eyed
Susans, asters, milkweed and coneflowers — plants adapted to our local climate, so they’re
better able to handle drought and storms and will ultimately require less maintenance and
watering than non-native plants. Most importantly, local butterflies prefer these flowers for food
and shelter.
Got milkweed? Milkweed is the only plant monarch moms use to lay their eggs and the
monarch caterpillars’ main source of food. That’s why the David Suzuki Foundation and many
other groups are encouraging us all to plant more milkweed.
How can you help? Go to www.davidsuzuki.org/butterflygarden for resources on how to create
a butterfly garden. You can also check out the one-page fact sheet attached to this letter. If a
garden is too ambitious, consider adding milkweed and other butterfly-friendly plants to your
existing [gardens/planters/landscaping] next spring.
Thanks for your time. I hope to hear from you soon.
Sincerely,
[Insert your name]
P.S. Please count on me to help get others in our neighbourhood interested in [insert name of
institution]’s butterfly garden, by providing materials and/or volunteer support to help make it
happen.