Help Mote to Stay Afloat by Volunteering

What:

Web site: www.mote.org/volunteer

What they’re all about: Mote is an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to marine research and preservation. It is an international hub for scientists who are performing studies on marine life and ecosystems in the Gulf of Mexico, offering community and youth outreach and education programs.

How you can help: Volunteers are critical to Mote because of the non-profit’s public education goal, Mote spokeswoman Nadine Slimak said. Plus there’s the allure of a gift shop discount and free admission to the aquarium as a volunteer.

“We really have needs for docents to help us interpret the science that we do and to help explain the marine environment to visitors,” she said. Docents receive extensive training to help to do their job.

There are plenty of other areas to volunteer, too, whether it’s in the public eye or behind the scenes, she said.

“We have positions in the lab to help out,” she said. 

Mote has several Web pages of volunteer opportunities, and also hosts coffee sessions for those interested in learning about volunteering. The next one is at 10 a.m. on Feb. 15. 

Volunteers can e-mail volunteer@mote.org to reach Lisa Kinsella, director of volunteer resources.

Funding is just as important as volunteering, Slimak added. 

One thing nonprofit organizations always need help with is general operating expenses,” she said. “It sounds really basic, but keeping the lights on so we can stay open as a research lab is really important.”

The dolphin and whale hospital and sea turtle rehabilitation hospital also receives little state and federal funding, and money is needed to help fund those programs so those animals can regain their health and be released back into the wild, she said.

You can also give local schools the gift of Mote's ocean education through Gulf Coast Gives — a special program by the Gulf Coast Community Foundation that connects the needs of local charities with people in the community who want to help.

Through Dec. 31, you can support Mote's effort to bring the science of the sea to more than 900 Sarasota County students. The project's goal is to raise $5,000 to send Mote educators to about 30 local classrooms, sharing ocean education with school groups that cannot afford a field trip to Mote Aquarium.

You can donate online: www.gulfcoastgives.org/projects/451

Or give by shopping at Westfield Southgate: Now through Dec. 31, shoppers who spend $200 in same-day purchases at Westfield Southgate shopping center, 3501 South Tamiami Trail in Sarasota, will receive a $25 Gulf Coast Gives Card.You can use this card to support Mote or another nonprofit of your choice.

(To receive a $25 Give Card, shoppers must provide a valid e-mail address and receipts to mall employees located in the management office, concierge desk, or Saks Fifth Avenue. Please see retail stores or visit www.GulfCoastGives.org for details.)