News

By Gina McClain, Volunteer Specialist

We appreciate our Volunteer Mana-teammates’ support so much throughout the year and especially at year-end as we gear up for 2024’s many manatee events!

We have a number of big events coming up right at the start of 2024, including the big Florida Manatee Festival in Crystal River on January 13 and 14, followed by the Orange City Blue Spring Manatee Festival on January 27 and 28. February will start with the annual big Manatee Fest at Manatee Lagoon, followed a little later by Springs Fest at Silver Springs State Park. You can find a full list of our events and volunteer opportunities at savethemanatee.org/events.

However, did you know you can also help manatees if you don’t live in Florida, can’t travel, or don’t want to leave the comfort of your home?

You may belong to the one group that does so much and is not thanked enough: our social media ambassadors and influencers. We are so thankful to all of you who follow, like, and share our Facebook (@savethemanateeclub), Instagram (@savethemanateeclub), and Twitter/X (@savethemanatee) posts with your broad groups of followers!  Many of you do these wonderful things PLUS create your own fundraising campaigns on your social media channels and select Save the Manatee Club as your charity of choice.

While some of you also volunteer with us in person, and we can say thank you, there are many of you who support us only via social media. It can be quite difficult to properly thank you, as most times we only know your handles! #💙manatee💙  

If you don’t belong to this group just yet, but you are reading this: Follow us, forward, share, and repost to all in your sphere of influence! This can be accomplished at your leisure from anywhere in the world, and every single action you take helps support us and the most adorable of aquatic mammals: manatees!

We end this year incredibly grateful to each of you for every way that you support manatees and SMC.

Wishing everyone everywhere a peaceful, loving, and safe holiday season and 2024!