ALLEN COUNTY — As the all-ability playground was in the planning stage, plans changed. During the early meetings, a memorial garden was planned to honor the lives of people who had passed away, to honor those who were served and other important individuals in the service of those with developmental disabilities. But it became more.
Theresa Schnipke, superintendent of Allen County Board of Developmental Disabilities, has been involved from the start. “We knew we wanted it to be open to the community. It wasn’t long that we thought we needed a memorial garden because we needed to honor donors who wanted to honor loved ones. From there, the butterfly garden kind of hatched. The playground opened in October of 2021 and once the weather broke we knew we could finish this. We honored 94 names in our inaugural event. We plan to have this every year. Today we released 50 butterflies.”
Those 94 individuals that are part of the inaugural butterfly garden ceremony were read by Morgan Rigali. The song “Scars in Heaven” by Casting Crowns was shared. Staff read a brief biography of those who were being served but passed away from January 2020 through May of 2022. A closing poem was read by Anthony Simpson representing the Marimor Legacy Foundation. Finally, the butterflies were distributed and released.
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