“We have turned 54% of the lower 48 states into a matrix of cities, suburbs, roads, airports, power and pipelines, shopping centers, golf courses, infrastructure, and isolated habitat fragments, with 41% more of the U.S. into various forms of agriculture. That’s right: we humans have taken 95% of the natural world and made it unnatural,” explains Doug Tallamy, Wild Ones Lifetime Honorary Director, University of Delaware entomologist and renowned author of “Bringing Nature Home” and “Nature’s Best Hope.”
Wild Ones proudly partners with youth serving organizations to help reverse this trend by bringing back critical wild space and instilling an appreciation for nature in the next generation by funding native plant projects through the Lorrie Otto Seeds for Education Grant Program (SFE) administered by Wild Ones. The youth involved learn about the benefits of native plants while getting a close-up view of butterflies, songbirds and other creatures that use these plants for vital food or shelter.
The Seeds for Education Grant Program honors Lorrie Otto, who inspired school garden projects in the 1970s in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area. For more than 20 years, Wild Ones has awarded SFE grants to youth-serving organizations for acquiring native plants and seeds for outdoor learning areas that engage youth (preschool to high school) directly in planning, planting and caring for native plant gardens throughout the United States.
In 2023 alone, Wild Ones has been proud to award $9,870 in funds and partner with 24 youth-serving organizations in 17 states as well as the District of Columbia on critical native plant projects. Below are the organizations Wild Ones has provided funding to this year:
- Antietam Academy (Maryland)
- City Blossoms (District of Columbia)
- Clarkston Family Farm (CFF) (Michigan)
- Coffeyville Neighborhood Initiative: Fresg Start Youth Gardens (Kansas)
- Columbus Elementary/Appleton Bilingual School (Wisconsin)
- Explora Science Center & Children’s Museum of Albuquerque (New Mexico)
- Fairfax County Public Schools-Chantilly High School (Virginia)
- Feed and Be Fed (California)
- Friends of Pisgah Collective (North Carolina)
- Green Team, North Stratfield Elementary School (NSS) (Connecticut)
- Hinkletown Mennonite School (Pennsylvania)
- Inner-City Neighborhood Art House (NAH) (Pennsylvania)
- Lakeside Middle School Agriculture Program (South Carolina)
- Lenart RGC / L.O.L.A (Illinois)
- Madison County Conservation (Iowa)
- Meadowview Elementary School (Illinois)
- Mountain Sun Community School (North Carolina)
- PS 99 (New York)
- PS/IS 187 Parent Teacher Organization (New York)
- Seymour JR High (Tennessee)
- South Lebanon Elementary School Parent-Teacher Organization (Ohio)
- St. Francis Child Care Center (Wisconsin)
- St. Peter’s Episcopal School (Tennessee)
- YMCA Southcoast/Sharing the Harvest Community Farm (Massachusetts)
Jen Ainsworth, Executive Director of Wild Ones said, “We are pleased to support the youth and staff at these great organizations as they learn about native plants, pollinators, and supporting biodiversity/nature with this project. We look forward to sharing with Wild Ones members the impact these projects have on their communities as they develop in the coming months and years.”
Wild Ones would like to extend our deepest appreciation to volunteer SFE program committee members board member Rita Ulrich, Past President Sally Wencel and especially this year’s program chair, Michele Hensey, for all the time, effort and expertise they devoted to successfully coordinating this program.
We would also like to warmly thank the following volunteers for their thoughtful review of all 2023 SFE applications: Bennett Dowling, Ellen Folts, Sheri Glowinski, Jamien Jacobs, Carolyn Miller, Suzie Muttel, Kaitlyn Nolker, Tamara O’Brien, Lorrie O’Connor, Sarah O’Neill, Shelley Tender, and Angela Violet.
