NORTH BRUNSWICK — The memorial butterfly garden in front of North Brunswick Township High School has received new life.
School Principal Pete Clark said the garden, which is dedicated in honor of graduate Joey Rogers, suffered a great amount of damage due to the amount of rain this year, and could not be maintained.
“It was becoming an eyesore,” he said.
On Make A Difference Day, Oct. 26, school officials, students from the environmental club and members of the community will help clean up the memorial garden by pulling weeds, planting flowers and making other improvements from 8 a.m. to noon.
The garden is a memorial honoring Rogers, who was born with Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome, a rare blood disorder that is caused by a mutated gene on a chromosome in males. He passed away in March 2007 at the age of 22.
Rogers’ mother, Doris, had said he loved monarch butterflies, and in 2010 she donated $6,000 through the Joey Rogers Scholarship Fund to the Linwood Middle School’s Monarch Project, which created the garden as an outdoor classroom for butterfly studies.
She said the butterfly garden at the high school was created in May through funds from her son’s college fund.
“This was on Joey’s bucket list,” Doris said. “He wanted a garden to be put [at] any school Mr. Clark was in, because he just loved him. Another butterfly garden is outside of Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital [in New Brunswick].”
Employees from Amato’s Nursery in Monmouth Junction will participate by planting and putting down mulch this weekend. The company is also providing equipment for the volunteers to use. Clark said the school received a $5,000 grant from Gannett to purchase supplies, including gloves, rakes and garbage bags.
“I was so happy,” Doris said when she learned about the grant. “The seniors of last year designed the butterfly garden. I spent months and months with Peter Amato on where plants should be located.”
Clark said the township’s schools always participate in Make A Difference Day, the largest national day of community service, sponsored by USA Weekend magazine and Points of Light.
However, this will be the high school’s largest project yet, Clark said.
Clark said he encourages members of the community to come out and help from 8 a.m. to noon. For more information, contact the high school at 732-289-3700.