I'm a Snowbird and a Mote Donor
Who says a Mote donor has to be a year-round Florida resident? Not me. I'm a native Michigander who spends six months up there and six months down here. After retirement, just over 15 years ago, I settled in Sarasota and almost at once became a supporting member of Mote Marine Laboratory, and later a volunteer at the Ann and Alfred Goldstein Marine Mammal Research and Rehabilitation Center.
As for motives, I had several. Not the least was my own scientific background (a degree in biology from Georgetown University) and a business career with a pharmaceutical company. Plus, I had a lifelong interest in wildlife, and a son who was a sailor and an environmentalist and urged me to get involved with Mote. It was a perfect fit.
Today I guide folks through Ann and Alfred Goldstein Marine Mammal Research and Rehabilitation Center and have trained to become a member of Mote's animal rescue team—a group of volunteers like me on 24-hour call to go to the aid of a stranded sea turtle, manatee, dolphin or other small whale. I guess the next step was obvious, and I took it—serious financial support.
Brian, my son, is also an attorney with estate planning experience and drew the revocable trust document that, upon my death, gives a nice sum of money to Mote Marine Laboratory. I firmly believe that the more people know about sea life, the more ready they will be to protect it. Mote, with its aquarium, education division and seven marine research centers is one of the best educators anywhere.
If you, too, believe saving the sea and all its creatures is worthwhile, I urge you to consider one of the several ways you can become a donor to Mote Marine Laboratory. It's not just for our generation. It's a sound investment for our children and grandchildren.
Oh, did I forget to mention there can be tax advantages from your gift?