A vacant lot in Peoria’s East Bluff is now a garden, dotted with pink and purple flowers. It’s part of the city’s broader effort to provide habitats for monarch butterflies experiencing population losses, due to environmental factors.
But East Bluff Neighborhood Housing Services President Lueshand Nunn says the garden isn’t just for the butterflies. She hopes it helps the neighborhood kids thrive, too.
“You know, they talk about the kids being bad in the neighborhood, and vandalizing the neighborhood. What we do is try to keep our kids involved, giving them something to do and making them a part of it,” Nunn said. “So if they’re a part of this butterfly garden and helping putting it together, they’re going to take care of it.”
Neighborhood youth employed by the EBNHS’s “Law-n Order” program are in charge of weeding and maintenance. Kids like, Francesca Clark, 10, Yezenia Tucker-Lloyd, 13, and Memory Jarrett, 13, who live a few blocks away from the garden. The girls say they’re excited to welcome new neighbors -- monarch butterflies.
“And we can sit here and play, and sit in the chairs, and eat our lunch or something,” Clark said.
"We can enjoy butterflies, playing with them,” Tucker-Lloyd said.
The girls took a quick break from mulching and picking up trash to enjoy the flowers and new benches during a press conference Tues.
“It’s like, there’s nothing I couldn’t ask them to do, and they don’t get it done. They just enjoy it. Anything to stay out of trouble,” Nunn said.
More than a third of children in the East Bluff live below the federal poverty level. Nunn says the new garden isn’t just for the butterflies, it’s also a place for kids to feel valued and to take pride in their community.
It’s a message the girls believe in, despite the neighborhood circumstances that still includes random sounds of gunfire and a recent uptick in burglaries.
Tucker-Lloyd, Clark and Jarrett say they wish the violence would go away.
“Stop robbing and breaking into people’s houses,” Jarrett said.
“And stop killing the kids,” Clark added.
In spite of any such concerns the girls might have, they say they want to make their neighborhood better. And they’re doing their part. Picking up trash, mulching, and making the garden a welcoming place for butterflies, and neighbors in the East Bluff.
The butterfly garden on Behrends Ave. was funded by the city’s Wisconsin Avenue Business Corridor project.
It’s one of two gardens in Peoria dedicated to helping restore the monarch butterfly population. Scientists attribute the pollinator’s decline to climate change, habitat loss and pesticide use.
“We want to help the butterflies live,” Clark said.