We’ve conducted several events this spring and summer in order to SURPASS our goal of rolling 35,000 milkweed seedballs. In fact, we made over 50,000!!! It’s been a whirlwind, but we’ve done it!  So many people played a huge role in these efforts, and we are grateful for the time, energy, and money put into spreading these seeds across Iowa.

The biggest THANK YOU to all of the organizations, companies, groups, and individuals who made this possible.

CERA Friends	Conard Environmental Research Area, Kellogg
Student Environmental Committee	Grinnell College, Grinnell
Ben Elliott’s Eagle Scout Project	NewBo Market, Cedar Rapids
Wesley Center, University of Iowa	Iowa City
Girl Scouts	Grinnell
Train the Trainer	Glenwood
Environmental Club	Cornell College, Mount Vernon
EcoFest and NewPioneer Coop	NewBo Market, Cedar Rapids
Festival of the Young Child	Glenwood
Saint Alberts School Garden Club	Glenwood
Drake Library	Grinnell
Lutheran Church of the Ressurection	Marion
Chester Royal Grange	Grinnell
Music and Monarchs Festival	Elkader
Glenwood Events	Glenwood
Lowe Park	Marion
Hiawatha Elementary School	Hiawatha
Rockwell Collins	Marion
Harrison Elementary School	Cedar Rapids
Garnett Place Retirement Community	Cedar Rapids
Grinnell Reunion Family Day	Grinnell
Grinnell College Global Day of Service	Grinnell
Take a Kid Outside	Iowa City
Girl Scouts, Troop 5936	Marion
Lion’s Clubs Events	Statewide
Jim Langhus	Elkader
Animosa Prison	Animosa
Echo Hill Presbyterian Church	Cedar Rapids
College of Public Health	University of Iowa, Iowa City
Indian Creek Nature Center	Cedar Rapids

Here are some fun pictures from some of the seedball making events.  

Hiawatha Elementary School

Music and Monarchs Festival, Elkader, IA

Rockwell Collins Team Development Day, Marion, IA

Grinnell Girl Scout Troops

University of Iowa, College of Public Health

Girl Scout Troops 5936 (Grant Wood Elementary) and 5327 (Indian Creek Elementary)

Lowe Park Public Event

Grinnell College Global Day of Service

The 2016 RAGBRAI ride proved to be the biggest Milkweed Seedball Initiative yet! During more than two dozen seedball making events held during the spring and summer of 2016, we have worked with over 1,500 Iowans to roll over 50 THOUSAND common milkweed seedballs!  What incredible power this community has.

Here are the basics of how we distributed these seedballs to RAGBRAI riders:

• Volunteers from the local community and our partner organization, Monarchs in Eastern Iowa, staffed a booth in each day’s 2nd pass-through town.
• 6-9 thousand milkweed seedballs were given out to riders who passed by the booth.
• Educational materials, maps, and Monarch experts were on hand to answer any questions riders had about the migration, population decline, milkweed planting…whatever!
• We even released some newly emerged Monarchs! (It is prime breeding season, after all!)
• A small team of riders – called the Milkweed Matters team! – completed the RAGBRAI route while tossing milkweed seedballs from their bikes! We even wore wings while riding!