Four Reasons to be Thankful!

Reflecting on our successes this past week, we'd like to celebrate and extend our thanks to some of the people who make our work possible:

Our Friends & Members:

On Saturday, twenty-five people came down for a low tide walk at Kinzie Beach on a warm, blue-sky morning. Spreading out among the rocks, kelp, and seagrasses, visitors discovered shaggy mouse nudibranchs, gumboot chitons, blood stars, anemones, hermit crabs, sea worms, giant barnacles, limpets, and even a snailfish, named for its tail which folds inward like a snail shell when the fish is resting.

Our Generous Donors:

Last Tuesday and Wednesday, 128 people participated in our GiveBIG campaign, a 42% increase in participants over last year! Donations ranged from $10 to $2,500 and came from as far away as Vermont! Thank you all for coming together to collectively make a huge impact. We are happy to report that we surpassed our goal of $15,000, raising a total of $20,625!

We are thrilled with this 19% increase over last year — a new GiveBIG record for the Port Townsend Marine Science Center — and are humbled and honored by your support.

Our Volunteers:

Every weekend, squeals and laughter echo through our exhibits and touch tanks as our volunteer docents tell the story of our orca, Hope, and help visitors connect their own lives and choices with the health and conservation of the Salish Sea. Whether seeing a child touch the incredibly soft fur of a seal for the first time or wriggle with excitement as their finger is delicately "hugged" by a sea urchin, our volunteers help create small moments of inspiration almost daily. Those moments can shape a lifetime.

Our Lifelong Learners:

Yesterday, we welcomed a group of 80 second-grade students from Sand Hill Elementary School for a tour of our Marine Exhibit. One unanticipated highlight of the tour was a tank filled with seawater (and nothing else), which we had goofily named "the plankton tank." Upon discovering that seawater is filled with billions of plankton, one student asked for permission to uncover the tank so he could "please touch all the plankton." Students excitedly took turns dunking their hands into the sea water and looking at plankton under a microscope. One student expressed fear of having to leave before she got a chance to look at plankton under the microscope because, she said, "plankton are the coolest dudes ever!" The students were more hyped about the plankton than anything else, which is a marine exhibit first. When asked how the water in the "plankton tank" felt, one student exclaimed, "Oh my goodness! It feels like I'm being tickled by a billion tiny creatures!" Needless to say, the "plankton tank" was a total Sand Hill Elementary hit.

Thank you to all our members, donors, volunteers, students, and friends for making this past week such a success at the Marine Science Center.

Photo 1 by Port Townsend Marine Science Center | Photos 2 & 3 by Gary Larson | Photo 4 by Zofia Knorek

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JOIN US AT OUR ANNUAL MEETING Thursday, May 26 from 5:00 to 6:30 for a recap of the Science Center's highlights and successes over the past year as well as a lecture presentation from new Program Director Karlisa Callwood on the Caribbean spiny lobster.