In 2019, the Port Townsend Marine Science Center is spotlighting supporters who have become SeaSteward donors. Read Part 2 here.
Ella Piatt traces her first inspiration to the time she came to the Port Townsend Marine Science Center as a child to work with co-founder Libby Palmer on a fish seine.
“I loved every bit of it,” Ella remembers. “We would all wait eagerly to see what the haul would bring us. We would get nudibranchs, crabs, starfish, sculpin, gunnels and so on.”
That excitement brought her back for a high school internship in 2009 to work on the Orca Project. The story of “Hope,” the orca that stranded and died due to a high level of toxins in her body, was profoundly moving to Ella.
“The public was allowed to put together the skeleton, like a giant jigsaw puzzle,” Ella says. “I remember a young boy in particular who would work on the orca skeleton as much as he could. There was so much passion and determination in this young man to finish the orca skeleton.”
Ella went on to earn an Associate of Arts degree in marine and environmental conservation, followed by a Bachelor of Science degree in biology and anthropology. She is currently working in Maine on a study of saltmarsh sparrows.
At the 2019 “Enchanted Salish Sea” Dinner & Auction on March 16, Ella addressed the audience, giving voice to the inspiration that motivates everyone who works, volunteers, funds or otherwise supports the PTMSC.
“I want to restore a world that was once beautiful and pollution-free, back to the way it should be,” she said. “I want to find ways to encourage the whole world to take a different path that's less harmful to nature. I want to make a global change. It's a huge goal but together it can be done."
This human-to-human sharing of passion and excitement is at the heart of how the PTMSC creates ocean stewards and transforms lives.
Linda Martin and Mike Cornforth have supported the PTMSC for more than 15 years.
What does it mean to become a steward of the Salish Sea?
Ella Piatt traces her first inspiration to the time she came to the Port Townsend Marine Science Center as a child to work with co-founder Libby Palmer on a fish seine.
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| Ella Piatt at the 2019 "Enchanted Salish Sea" Dinner & Auction. |
That excitement brought her back for a high school internship in 2009 to work on the Orca Project. The story of “Hope,” the orca that stranded and died due to a high level of toxins in her body, was profoundly moving to Ella.
“The public was allowed to put together the skeleton, like a giant jigsaw puzzle,” Ella says. “I remember a young boy in particular who would work on the orca skeleton as much as he could. There was so much passion and determination in this young man to finish the orca skeleton.”
Ella went on to earn an Associate of Arts degree in marine and environmental conservation, followed by a Bachelor of Science degree in biology and anthropology. She is currently working in Maine on a study of saltmarsh sparrows.
“I want to restore a world that was once beautiful and pollution-free, back to the way it should be,” she said. “I want to find ways to encourage the whole world to take a different path that's less harmful to nature. I want to make a global change. It's a huge goal but together it can be done."
This human-to-human sharing of passion and excitement is at the heart of how the PTMSC creates ocean stewards and transforms lives.
Linda Martin and Mike Cornforth have supported the PTMSC for more than 15 years.
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| Mike and Linda at the end of their regular Friday docent shifts. |
“Mike and I knew we'd be supporting the PTMSC the first time we set foot in the Museum,” says Linda, who eventually became a PTMSC board member. “It was 2004 and our first visit to Port Townsend while searching for the perfect retirement location. A friendly volunteer staffer found out we were docents at Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve in La Jolla, California, and she told us we'd be most welcome as volunteers at the Marine Science Center. We took the first interpretive training as docents while river otters raced around the beach, screeching and rolling around.”
Describing the thrill of interacting with the public, Linda says: “Watching a visitor's face light up with glee when a touch tank resident responds to a gentle touch gives my heart a happy thump. Seeing visitors from all over the world meet their first orca in our museum is a joy.
“We have been docents, auction donors and ambassadors, and sustaining financial donors since 2007,” she says.
More recently, Mike and Linda decided to become SeaSteward members, making their donation with an automatically recurring monthly payment on their credit card. Mike explains it this way.
“The advantages are two-fold,” he says. “First, PTMSC has a steady, stable source of funding for day-to-day operations. And second, our charitable contributions are stable and predictable.”
Adds Linda: “Keeping the Aquarium and Museum doors open to the public is a service to the local and global community. We are honored to be a part of that effort.”
Describing the thrill of interacting with the public, Linda says: “Watching a visitor's face light up with glee when a touch tank resident responds to a gentle touch gives my heart a happy thump. Seeing visitors from all over the world meet their first orca in our museum is a joy.
“We have been docents, auction donors and ambassadors, and sustaining financial donors since 2007,” she says.
More recently, Mike and Linda decided to become SeaSteward members, making their donation with an automatically recurring monthly payment on their credit card. Mike explains it this way.
“The advantages are two-fold,” he says. “First, PTMSC has a steady, stable source of funding for day-to-day operations. And second, our charitable contributions are stable and predictable.”
Adds Linda: “Keeping the Aquarium and Museum doors open to the public is a service to the local and global community. We are honored to be a part of that effort.”
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