Friends May Newsletter

Celebrating the small joys in life is like savoring the sweet nectar of a ripe mango – it’s essential for our well-being and happiness! At Friends of Virgin Islands National Park, we believe that every child’s smile at our Earth Day Fair, every hatchling that makes it to the ocean, and every beautiful sunset contributes to a vibrant tapestry of community and connection with nature.

April was a month of celebration with over 400 students from St. John and St. Thomas schools having fun and learning on Earth Day. In addition, our 2025 Sea Turtle Season Report was published. It is a perfect demonstration of how a small team can contribute to conservation efforts across the Virgin Islands and around the world to protect these beautiful endangered creatures. A record 3,597 hatchlings made it to the ocean last season thanks to an incredible community of trained volunteers working alongside our team.

On Memorial Day weekend, some 360 swimmers take to the beautiful waters of Virgin Islands National Park to raise funds for programs like Learn To Swim, marine conservation, and education outreach in the 23rd Joe Kessler’s Beach To Beach Power Swim. We invite you to help support these programs and more by becoming a member this month and be entered into our May Membership Raffle.

Each small contribution of support to our programs makes the work we do to protect the joy found in nature possible. Read the May newsletter here.