Monarch butterfly documentary to screen at the Bloomingdale Public Library

By Lonnie Morris

Plants, Pollinators & Prayers is a recent documentary about a local community's efforts to bring monarch butterflies back to Northern Illinois. Plants, Pollinators & Prayers will have a local screening at 7:00 PM on February 15 at the Bloomingdale Public Library. Registraton is required. Do so here.

Inspired to action by the loss of Midwestern prairie habitat and the decline of the monarch butterfly population, this documentary follows the multi-year efforts of a gardener, educator, and pastor as they transform a rural church’s backyard into a monarch waystation--a sanctuary for pollinating animals, an educational garden for the community, and a sacred space for spiritual contemplation.

Diana Swanson, the gardener who leads the planting of the waystation, was inspired to act because, “The monarch butterfly is just one of the most amazing natural phenomena. It’s one of the earth’s great miracles that this small insect can migrate 3,000 miles or more.”

Peggy Doty, an environmental educator, helps bring awareness to the waystation by raising monarch butterflies in her backyard and says of the waystation, “Who knew that insects could create a destination?” She says that attracting pollinating insects to the local area is imperative because “We won’t be here if they’re not here.”

The monarch waystation featured in the documentary is located at the Mayfield Congregational Church at 28405 Church Rd. in Sycamore, Illinois. Pastor Martha Brunell, a central voice in the documentary, speaks about how projects like the waystation are “where faith communities need to be now, in collaborative efforts with all kinds of different organizations. The things that are important to us we do with educational institutions, commercial enterprises, the highway department, in places where our interests and passions overlap.”

Plants, Pollinators & Prayers is directed and produced by filmmaker and NIU professor Randy Caspersen and was shot over the past five years and crewed with students from NIU's Department of Communication. Since moving to Northern Illinois, Caspersen has made films that showcased the efforts of the Northern Illinois community including the award-winning feature documentary Go Penguins! about the Penguin Project, a local theatre group of young adults and children with disabilities performing the lead roles in a Broadway-style musical. Since its release, Plants, Pollinators & Prayers has screened nationally at film festivals across the United States and Canada.

Admission to the February 15 screening of the documentary at the Bloomingdale Public Library is free. The screening begins at 7:00 PM. The film runs 40 minutes. There will be a Q&A after the screening with the filmmaker, the gardener, and the environmental educator from the documentary.