Frog House Project Inc

Our organization was created with the purpose of encouraging and assisting Pittsford to become a model community with kindness and compassion toward all. We would like to see an enlightened practice of maintaining chemical free properties, clean wetlands and water, as well as nitrogen fixing and drought resistant native plants, shrubs, and trees, rain gardens and ponds, creating a healthy environment. What helps frogs supports all life.

Our organization strategies are:

Developing programs that we can offer to the Pittsford community in order to raise awareness of our cause.
Continuing our learning by attending seminars, webinars and workshops.
Creating partnerships with experts in order to help more people understand things such as why having native plants in your garden is important.
Teaming up with other organizations that support education and the environment to learn and grow together.

Chemical free properties: Too many residents carelessly use destructive gardening practices. We have partnerships with Save the Frogs, Barefoot Ecological Design, Impact Earth, Inc, RAICA, Pachamama, Wild Ones, Color Your Community Green and other like minded organizations to refer visitors to, and provide information about them to encourage them to join the movement toward chemical free properties. We have two gardens on the towpath which have signs that show that we are such an environmentally responsible organization and are planted sustainably, as well as a third garden on the property designed by Patty Love, founder of Barefoot Ecological Design, for demonstration to and learning by visitors. Native plants and wildlife cannot survive chemical warfare, and we can show how easily beautiful property can be maintained without them.

What helps frogs supports all life: We have natural frog residents in a newly dug frog pond and are constructing another. Bonnie Abrams, a graduate of the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, majoring in biology, also is crazy about frogs, and she and Margot provide facts and relevant information from their own and other sources regarding the environment, frogs and more. We go into schools to give presentations and/or environmental activities that carry this message.

Kindness and compassion: Unfortunately, Pittsford, like every community, has some residents who are divisive and bullies. Our founder and CEO Margot is a psychiatrist, and advocate of Nonviolent Communication, and all of our team (contractors, board members and friends of A Frog House) are emotionally mature. A Frog House is available to the Youth Counseling Center and school counseling services for support, and involves youth as volunteers in a way that they feel comfortable and can have fun. Visitors enjoy a warm welcome in this canal towpath oasis.


Bonnie Abrams, our event planner, is committed to coming up with new programs and ideas that make learning about the environment more interesting and fun. Margot Fass, our CEO, gives all her heart and soul to A Frog House; building relationships and connections that allow us to interact with supporters, volunteers and friends.
Belen, our board member and treasurer, brings invaluable organization and management skills that help us direct our work.

Our organization is 100% committed to achieving our mission.

As described in our most recent blog, we focused this year on the frog’s natural land environment, learning and sharing simultaneously with plus or minus 300 people, involving everyone from 2 to 82 years old.

If they don’t already have it, visitors catch the fever of “Frogaphilia” and many are eager to participate in ecological projects, activities, games, and education. It is quite incredible in this day and age that so many people are totally unaware of the threats to frogs, and consequently to all other species.

We held our first art and poetry contest, and got fine literary contributions for the latter from all over the world. We like to think we influenced the town to name the walk in the Erie Canal Nature Preserve “Frog Pond Trail” and were among the influencers to put in a pollinator garden in that area.

Through good property management of our own, we not surprisingly attracted three different species of frogs. We have prepared various informational handouts and distributed others.

Right now we are ramping up our plans for 2022 to prioritize water and wetland conservation, bringing in experts from New York State Fish and Wildlife Conservation, and the Department of Environmental Conservation for our April 24 Save The Frogs Day educational event.

From then, we are looking forward to working with the town to rid the Erie Canal Nature Preserve of invasive plants, put in proper native shrubs and oxygenate the four mostly separated bodies of water to improve life for everyone.