Mother’s Day can be a day of brunch and flowers for some families, but for others, the holiday may shine a light on the struggles of the previous year. For families at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, they know this all too well.
To celebrate those families exactly where they are, Atlanta-based Arrow Exterminators partnered with Children’s to showcase their expertise — bugs — with a butterfly release at the new Arthur M. Blank Hospital on Thursday.
“One of our core values as a company is community, and we love to give back to the communities we serve,” Jason Pelham, vice president of marketing at Arrow Exterminators, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “For mothers on Mother’s Day, we do a butterfly release.”
Credit: Arrow Exterminators
Credit: Arrow Exterminators
This is a tradition for the family-owned pest and termite control company. Arrow Exterminators has been hosting the butterfly release at Children’s every May for over a decade, according to Pelham, including a virtual celebration during the COVID-19 pandemic. In previous years, the release was held at Children’s Eggleston and Scottish Rite campuses.
“Every time when you release the butterflies, you never know exactly where they will go. Sometimes they go everywhere and a lot of times they just float around and stay,” Pelham recounted. “Most exciting for me is seeing the kids’ faces.”
Arrow Exterminators also provided bug-themed coloring pages for kids to use and enjoy.
Credit: Arrow Exterminators
Credit: Arrow Exterminators
For Steven Klodzinski and his son, Dmitri, the butterfly release was a nice distraction for his family at a difficult time.
“He was happy to get out of the room,” Klodzinski said. “I don’t think he’s ever seen butterflies like that.”
Klodzinski and his family were first acquainted with Children’s six weeks after Dmitri was born, when he was transferred to the Eggleston campus from Northside Hospital. His son had been readmitted last month due to a heart surgery.
“To be a part of it and smile was fun for him, to take away a little bit of the pain of being here,” Klodzinski said.
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