A small town in Ohio embraces butterflies to symbolize change and recovery

One small Ohio town designed a butterfly garden as a symbol of recovery for former flood land and for people who have struggled with addiction.

Transcript

JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:

A small Ohio River town is embracing butterflies to symbolize change and recovery. A garden that rests on former flood land will be tended by people recovering from addiction. Nick Swartsell from member station WVXU tells us more.

NICK SWARTSELL, BYLINE: Rebirth means multiple things at the intersection of Willow and Light Streets in New Richmond, Ohio. Once littered with trash, it now boasts small green tufts of native plants meant to attract pollinators. It's home to a new butterfly garden. Village administrator Kathryn Bailey is excited about the transformation.

KATHRYN BAILEY: This was just a junkyard. Literally, we had to get the trash removed. And, I mean, we took out old cars, but, I mean, I think what it stands for is a beautiful thing.

SWARTSELL: The garden will be maintained by residents of two local addiction recovery houses called On Our Way Home. It's a way for them to find peace and strengthen their ties to the community. New Richmond is in Ohio's Clermont County, a mostly rural area at the edge of Appalachia that has struggled with the opioid crisis. Nestled next to the restless Ohio River, the village has also dealt for generations with a recurring cycle of flooding and cleanup. The butterfly garden represents recovery from both. Anita Lenhardt lives at one of the recovery houses and works in the office of the other. Pointing across the street from the garden, she recalls the toll flooding has taken here.

ANITA LENHARDT: I actually grew up down there on that corner. There's nothing there now. Obviously, the flood in '97 just ruined all my family's properties.

SWARTSELL: The new garden once held a house badly damaged by that flood. The city later purchased it and dozens of others with FEMA funds to convert it to green space. Lenhardt's journey with addiction started 15 years ago with a back injury and a prescription for pain medication.

LENHARDT: I, like, just had everything that a person could want. And then that first pill that I took - that was my whole life after that.

SWARTSELL: She's currently going to school to counsel others overcoming addiction. The symbolism of butterflies - their start as caterpillars, their retreat into a cocoon, their rebirth - resonates with her.

LENHARDT: I think about that, the way that you change into something beautiful, something that you were always meant to be.

SWARTSELL: Gary Cunningham lives just down the street at On Our Way Home's men's recovery house. He was homeless when he came to the recovery house due to his struggles with addiction. He's one of the residents who will help maintain the garden. That means a lot to him.

GARY CUNNINGHAM: Being able to go over there and just take care of it, knowing it's ours. And seeing the butterflies, like, man, they've been on the same journey with us.

SWARTSELL: On a recent drizzly Sunday, Cunningham and others hand out small envelopes to attendees of an opening ceremony for the garden. They contain live butterflies. The crowd of a few dozen releases them all at once. Flashes of orange fill the air.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: That was...

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Look.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: ...Beautiful. Oh, my goodness.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: Hey. I got bit.

SWARTSELL: Emily Stoll works as a counselor for the recovery houses. As the rain lets up, she makes a brief speech.

EMILY STOLL: Rain, though sometimes seen as an inconvenience, is truly a gift. Just like the challenges we face in life, it can bring growth and renewal. The rain that has fallen today and the weeks to come will help this garden bloom and flourish. It's a reminder that beauty often emerges from moments of hardship.

SWARTSELL: Like turning an abandoned lot into a refuge of sorts. For NPR News, I'm Nick Swartsell in New Richmond.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.