National Volunteer Week 2024 • April 21-17
Founder Eleanor Fletcher, known as “The Turtle Lady of Juno Beach”, was our first “volunteer” 40 years ago, dedicated hours each week to bring awareness to the importance of these ancient, threatened species. Today, more than 400 community members, from ages 16 to 86, serve the Center and build on her legacy.
This National Volunteer Week we want to show our sincere appreciation to the entire LMC Volunteer Staff, we appreciate you all and simply could not do our important work without you. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!
We asked our volunteer community what volunteering at LMC means to them, and here is what they had to say:
Name : Betsy Smith
How Long Have you Been Here: 23 Years
Department: Conservation
Quote: I was introduced to FL when Joe and I spent every “spring break” on a client’s large boat in a marina on Key West. We wrestled with buying a house on the Key, but the cruise ship docking and gentrification of the island quickly changed our minds. Jupiter and PBCounty in general was the area of South FL that we chose. Retiring from teaching and private school administration, and having spent my childhood and the years that followed outside in the northeast corridor, it was evident that there were limited opportunities to pursue my passion and meet other people who held the same interests.
The subsequent years that I had the opportunity to be a part of MarineLife Center, MacArthur Park, and The Nature Preserve (TNC Blowing Rocks) gave me a wonderfully supportive group of fellow volunteers and staff. Marine biology and coastal ecology and conservation brought me into wanting to know and understand all facets of a new field of research, projects, and working in an area that quickly became my new passion.
