Coastal Connections, a nonprofit dedicated to “advancing sea turtle survival by educating and connecting people to the environment,” welcomed supporters to an open house at its new home on 14th Avenue in downtown Vero Beach.
Since its founding in 2017 by Kendra Cope Bergman, the grassroots organization has steadily broadened its reach within the community.
During the summer months, Coastal Connections coordinates sea turtle walks, giving participants the opportunity to observe these magnificent creatures as they nest along the beach.
They then monitor nesting sites and evaluate their success after hatchlings emerge, and they respond to all reports of sick, injured or dead sea turtles found between the Sebastian and Fort Pierce inlets.
Staff and volunteers coordinate coastal cleanups and programs such as Monofilament Recovery and Recycling, Beach Baskets and Wrap Recycling, and they host school and community events to educate people about dangers to wildlife such as plastics, light pollution, fishing lines and other hazards.
“This is an incredible crowd, an incredible showing tonight. You cannot imagine how thankful and blessed all of us feel for having all of you lovely people here to celebrate it with us,” said Bergman in welcome.
“Over the last nine years, it has been the greatest joy getting to start, nurture and grow this incredible nonprofit that we’re celebrating and getting to experience today,” said Bergman.
Commenting that the evolution would not have been possible without the support and guidance of some “very special people,” she thanked her board of directors for helping to keep the organization on track and moving forward.
She also recognized their small but mighty staff, their hardworking and dedicated volunteers, the elected officials in attendance that evening, and the sponsors of their new building and grounds.
Bergman said “the stars aligned” after learning late last year that they would need to find a new home. However, because the new building was more than twice the size of its previous space, it came with a price tag that was more than double what had been budgeted.
“It is our building sponsors who have and will continue to make this move into our stepping-stone home possible,” said Bergman, referencing David Cox of Cox Consulting and Cox Pinson Environmental Services, as well as Digg Gardens for the native plant landscaping.
She said their new “stepping-stone home” will provide them with the space needed to develop, plan, coordinate and conduct its various environmental protection programs over the next three to five years.
“And during this time, this incredible board of directors is going to be dedicated to planning, securing and building what will become our forever home, where we plan to house resident sea turtles that can serve as conservation ambassadors because they can’t be released back to the ocean,” said Bergman, adding that they hope to eventually also rehabilitate turtles.
“The work that we do over the next three to five years here, while we’re in downtown, is going to be the critical work to lay the foundation needed to reach these goals while we’re still serving our community, inspiring people to make more sustainable decisions, educating our children through hands-on STEM learning programs, and cleaning up our environment so that all of us can enjoy it and continue to rescue our sea turtles,” said Bergman.
“To close out this speech I ask that everyone raise your glass to the next three years of conservation, marine protection, and incredible impacts here in our community.”
Sea turtle nesting in IRC runs March 1 to Oct. 31. As of July 24, there were 67 leatherback, 8,886 loggerhead and 1,775 green nests, for a total of 10,728.
For more information, please visit coastal-connections.org.
Photos by Joshua Kodis
