AwesomeStPaul chose the Pollinators Along Pierce Butler Project because of our commitment to building community in our city. The goal of the project is to create a healthy, vibrant pollinator garden, bordering the entire length of the Mano a Mano International office/warehouse building at 925 Pierce Butler Route in St. Paul’s Frogtown neighborhood.

Mano a Mano is a non-profit organization headquartered in a warehouse facility on Pierce butler Route in Frogtown, a low income, ethnically diverse neighborhood which lacks the amount of green space available in most of the city. Although most of their programs are in Bolivia, their St. Paul-based programs draw hundreds of volunteers to their facility every month, with hundreds more passing by in vehicles each day.

Funding from the Awesome Foundation will combine the passion of Frogtown residents and Mano a Mano volunteers to create a native plant garden that attracts native bees, butterflies and birds. The pollinator garden will send a clear message to all who visit or pass by that the people who live, work, and volunteer in Frogtown care about the environment.

A group of knowledgeable volunteers, with donated plants, created and care for a beautiful perennial garden along the south-facing front of the Mano a Mano building. This garden received the Blooming St. Paul award in 2019. Energized by the results of this effort, they will design, plant and care for a west-facing 12’ by 100’ pollinator garden. The garden will include a colorful selection of native plants on which pollinators can land and feed; natural barriers to slow water flow; stepping stones to ease access; and a compost bin for collection of organic waste.

To enhance eye-appeal and connect the garden to the organization, they plan to display information about Mano a Mano’s agricultural program in Bolivia on the three-sided, wood compost bin.

The garden will reduce their carbon footprint, draw more pollinators into the neighborhood, and create an inviting entryway for the hundreds of volunteers who gather in this building.