Hop To It! Adopt a Manatee for Easter!
The ultimate addition to any Easter gift basket is a manatee adoption from Save the Manatee Club. There are 35 real, live manatees up for adoption in the Club’s popular Adopt-A-Manatee® Program. For a $25 tax-deductible donation, the Club will send a manatee adoption certificate with a full-color photo and a biography of a real living Florida manatee to family and friends. Who wouldn’t love to receive a gift basket at Easter that includes a manatee!
Barbara Lienhard, who cruises full-time aboard a sailboat in Florida, adopted a manatee last year for her friend’s five-year-old daughter in Pennsylvania, and also for her adult son in Orlando. “I thought it would be a great idea to give the manatee adoptions as presents for Easter,” says Barbara. “They were both so happy and thought it was such a unique gift!”
Also included in each adoption package is a subscription to the Club’s quarterly newsletter, The Manatee Zone, which features updates on the adopted manatees, and Paddle Tales, the Club’s bi-monthly e-newsletter. And for a $35 tax-deductible donation, each new member who joins the Adopt-A-Manatee® program also receives a plush manatee toy. Shipping is free in the United States. Funds from the adoption program help protect manatees, Florida’s official state marine mammal.
Save the Manatee Club, a national, nonprofit advocacy organization, co-founded by singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett, has been working to protect manatees and their habitat for almost 35 years. The Adopt-A-Manatee® program helps with funding and includes educating millions by providing educational materials, signage, and public service announcements free to schools, the media, and the general and boating public; saving manatee lives by funding rescue efforts and ensuring that injured manatees and orphaned calves can be rescued, rehabilitated, and released back to the wild; protecting Florida’s ecosystems for wildlife, and for the benefit and enjoyment of the public; obtaining strong manatee and aquatic habitat protection measures in important habitat areas throughout the state; and raising awareness about the manatee, a beloved icon across America and around the world.
Patrick Rose, Aquatic Biologist and Executive Director of Save the Manatee Club explains that manatee adoptions are popular gift ideas at Easter and other special occasions throughout the year because they carry true meaning. “Many concerned individuals, like Barbara Lienhard, really care about what happens to the manatees who live in dangerous conditions every day in Florida’s waterways. We must continue to work together for the long-term conservation of manatees and their habitat.”
With a love for sailing and living on the water, Barbara feels that she’s in touch with the problems that manatees face, and she looks for opportunities to get the word out to others. “Manatees are beautiful animals and I think having people be more aware of them can really help them in the long run,” says Barbara.
For more information about manatees and adopting one as an Easter gift, contact Save the Manatee Club at 500 N. Maitland Ave., Maitland, FL 32751, call 1-800-432-JOIN (5646), or visit their web site at savethemanatee.org.
Follow the Club using Twitter twitter.com/savethemanatee, Facebook www.facebook.com/savethemanateeclub, and Pinterest pinterest.com/SaveTheManateeC/, and Instagram https://instagram.com/adoptamanatee/. Watch manatee videos on YouTube at youtube.com/adoptamanatee.