End Of Year Gifting
Letter to our supporters and donors from Friends Executive Director, Tonia Lovejoy.
Dear Friends,
Greetings from St. John. I hope this letter finds you well. I am writing to you today to join me in celebrating the small stuff of life like the sea turtle team recently being able to identify a nesting female turtle by her unique tracks and know that three years ago, she nested on the same Caneel beach.
The natural world is full of inspirational stories like this mother that found her way home again. Stories that demonstrate resilience and hope and make me more committed than ever to the mission of the Friends of Virgin Islands National Park.
Many of us visit nature for the same reason – solace. Whether it is found walking along the beautiful white sandy shore of Trunk Bay or up on Peace Hill overlooking the extraordinary blues of the Caribbean Sea, pausing to breathe and take in nature’s beauty allows us to be reminded of its healing powers.
Each year Friends deploys dozens of trained volunteers to monitor and protect the endangered sea turtle nests laid along our shores. Last year 2,289 hatchlings made it to the sea! Your donation of $100 or more right now would power this program – and help a baby turtle survive!
As the philanthropic partner of Virgin Islands National Park, the Friends works hard to meet our Park’s needs today, and to prepare for needs tomorrow. This takes planning, wisdom, patience, an abundance of hope — and love. For the 2023-2024 season, we are committed to raising nearly $2 million dollars to fund legacy park programs on land, by the sea, and in the community.
Friends has developed its role in maintaining and protecting our trails and shorelines into the foundation for its education and outreach programs, providing hands-on, service learning opportunities to young adults, schools and families in the Virgin Islands. Last year five university scholarships were awarded to local youth studying in fields contributing to natural resource protection and conservation.
Friends is equally invested in building the next generation of park stewards as we are in applying science to land and sea conservation efforts. A donation of $250 or more can fund a class field trip into the Park! A gift of $1,000 or more would afford a local youth to be paid as a summer intern working in our Park!
Multiple challenges face the plant and animal life found in Virgin Islands National Park so we cannot abandon the urgency of applying collective know-how and data in real-time to our daily actions and problem-solving.
For example, Friends has been working with the US Fish and Wildlife Service and Virgin Islands National Park to protect Solanum conocarpum, a federally listed endangered plant that is endemic to the Virgin Islands, by cultivating and planting new populations. In addition, working with Iowa State University, Friends planted some 1050 mangroves in the Annaberg and Leinster Bay areas in the past year. The goal of the project is to re-establish sustainable mangrove communities that were devastated by Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017.
What lies ahead is, as always, a great unknown but what we know for certain is that what we invest in, and plant today, has an impact. The Friends’ mission is our shared mission. Together our commitment to this island gifts future generations the joy and peace we feel in this place.
The Friends 2023 Impact Report is available on our website. Please take the time to read it and know that the dollars you donate are put to good use and that our small, committed team works diligently alongside our park partners to achieve great results.
I hope you will donate today in support of the Friends mission, and take pause to enjoy those special moments in your great outdoors.
Thank you for your love and support of Virgin Islands National Park, truly a gem in all the world – and the one corner of your world we work so hard to preserve!
Warmly,
Tonia Lovejoy, Executive Director
