Kids Get Head Start on Mote’s Run for the Turtles
Ready your running shoes for a fabulous fundraiser benefiting sea turtle conservation — and tell the young folks in your life they can get moving early for a $37,000 head start.
Mote’s 29th Annual Run for the Turtles, a 5K and 1-mile run supporting sea turtle research and conservation at Mote Marine Laboratory, will take place on April 4 at Siesta Beach.
Run registration is no longer open. (Run details below.)
Now through April 4, youths age 23 and younger can launch their own fundraising projects that will be matched up to $37,000 total by Positive Tracks, a national youth-centric organization that helps young people get active and give back.
Positive Tracks and funding partner Gulf Coast Community Foundation are doubling dollars raised by young people before and during the Run, adding extra “oomph” to the Run’s support for Mote.
“This is a wonderful way for young people to experience the power of philanthropy and see the real difference they can make in their community and in the world,” said Teri A. Hansen, president and CEO of Gulf Coast Community Foundation. “The matching opportunity means more money for Mote’s conservation efforts, support for endangered species that nest on our shores, and direct evidence for these youngsters that we are indeed better together.”
Young people can raise funds individually or band together in youth-powered teams. Teams can include older adults as long as half the team members are ages 23 and younger. Adults can also help by donating to youth projects. The Positive Tracks program provides fundraising tools and the coordination support of local expert fundraiser Chris Pfahler with the goal of helping youths “turn sweat into gold” for a good cause.
How youths can get involved:
- Register for Mote’s Run for the Turtles
- Launch your own cool fundraising idea now — like a dance off, dodge ball tournament or craft sale — even if you cannot join the Run.
- Create your youth-powered fundraising page on Gulf Coast Gives, a web page of Gulf Coast Community Foundation. This page allows anyone to donate with a click — so post a snazzy pic, make a great statement and share the page with friends. Set up your page by contacting Chris Pfahler: chris@chrispfahler.com
- View and support existing teams online. Go Team Brooke and Grant Collins! Go Jasper and Tristan for Team Boca Grande!
- Contact Chris (chris@chrispfahler.com) with any questions about Run registration or starting your youth-powered fundraiser.
The elementary to middle-school kids at Girls Inc. seized this opportunity to raise funds for sea turtle conservation as a community service project.
Girls Inc. is bringing a large group of girls, older running buddies and coaches to Mote’s Run for the Turtles as an activity for their own Girls on the Run program. To raise funds for the Positive Tracks match, their group from Venice Elementary will have a donation booth and sell bracelets and baked goods outside a local supermarket.
“I want people to become more aware of sea turtles on our beaches so they will be more careful when they walk the beach near a nest,” said fifth-grader Bella Curcio, a Girls on the Run participant from Venice Elementary.
“It's important to help save the turtles because they’ve been on Earth since the time of the dinosaurs,” fourth-grade teammate Iris DeVries.
"The girls are exploring how they can positively connect with and shape the world,” said Krystel Scott, a manager for Girls Inc.’s program Girls on the Run, which encourages positive emotional, social, mental and physical development through helping out in the community. “The girls were totally excited that Positive Tracks is willing to match their fundraising efforts to help sea turtles even more! I look forward to taking the girls on a field trip to Mote so they can see themselves the value of their efforts."
Another young participant, 9-year-old Luke Pfahler, has already raised $275 for Mote by pogo-ing for pennies — asking others to pledge one penny for each continuous bounce on his pogo stick. Luke is 9 years old.
“I love to pogo and I love turtles,” he said. “I get to do something fun while helping our community.”
Brooke and Grant Collins, ages 12 and 10 respectively, have raised $350 of their $1,000 goal through their team page on Gulf Coast Gives.
“We love to spend time with our family walking and running on the beach and visiting Mote,” said the online statement they prepared together. “We love the turtles because they are graceful and truly beautiful and it is cool they can survive without their parents. We are going to talk to our family and friends and tell them the importance of sea turtles.”
“They are regulars at Run for the Turtles,” said Dad Scott Collins.
Making a Difference for Sea Turtles
A Kemp's ridley sea turtle - an endangered species and the rarest on Sarasota County beaches - nests in the daytime, unlike the more common local species, the threatened loggerhead turtle. (Credit: Alyson McCoy)
Everyone who participates in Run for the Turtles, and the youth fundraiser leading up to it, will be supporting endangered sea turtles in Sarasota County during a time when every dollar matters.
Each year, Mote’s Sea Turtle Conservation and Research Program monitors 35 miles of Sarasota County beaches every day of nesting season (May 1-Oct. 31), documenting every sea turtle nest and protecting nests and hatchlings from natural and manmade threats. In 2014, Mote documented a near-record total of 2,460 local nests.
“The number of sea turtle nests on our beaches has been climbing in recent years,” said Dr. James Powell, manager of Mote’s Sea Turtle Conservation and Research Program. This is very fortunate. However, it means an increasing demand for the work our team is doing. We are grateful that so many people participate in Run for the Turtles each year, and we are excited that Positive Tracks and Gulf Coast Community Foundation are encouraging young people to do even more.”
Run for the Turtles basics:
- When: April 4. Registration begins 6:30 a.m. at the Siesta Key Gazebo, south of the pavilion. The 1-Mile Fun Run or Walk begins at 7:30 a.m. and the 5K Manasota Track Club-Sanctioned Run begins at 8 a.m.
- Where: Siesta Key Public Beach, 948 Beach Road, Siesta Key
- Register early online through March 30 or download the registration form to print.
- Registration Fees: Adults: $30 through March 21; $35 from March 22 through race day. Children 10 & younger: $20 through March 21; $25 from March 22 through race day.
- More Info: Contact Paula Clark, 941-388-4441, ext. 357 or pclark@mote.org
- Sponsor the Run and help support sea turtle conservation and research.
This year's Run for the Turtles sponsors include: Leatherback Sponsors Unfi and Mosaic; Kemp’s Sponsors Fleet Feet Sports Sarasota, New Balance Sarasota and University Park and Crunch (gyms); Hawksbill Sponsors Deep Sea Diner, KoalaTee and Starbucks; Green Sponsors Dean Cutshall, Insurance & Benefits Consultants, Linda and Kumar Mahadevan, Joan L. Osgood LMT, Sarasota County, U.S. Tent Rental, Inc., Westbridge Veterinary Clinic and Z Entertainment; and Loggerhead Sponsors Albritton’s, SaraJane and William Bush, Dry Dock Waterfront Grill; Einstein Bros. Bagels, Subway, Florida State Massage Therapy Association, Publix, Becky and Gordon Rose, Law Office of Steve Santiago, Tropicana Products, Inc., Uniquity of St. Armands, Gerry and Mary Ann Beard and Vanessa Fine Jewelry.
