After asking public for help, SC Aquarium gets millions it needs to save sea turtles
Nearly one year after the coronavirus pandemic plunged a beloved downtown Charleston attraction into a financial crisis, the public has rescued the very place that saves South Carolina’s sick and injured sea turtles.
The South Carolina Aquarium on Tuesday announced it has secured the $1.6 million in donations needed to keep its Sea Turtle Care Center open.
The news comes six months after the aquarium turned to the public for help to fund its education programming and its Sea Turtle Care Center, which has rehabilitated and released more than 300 turtles in the past 20 years.
“It was inconceivable to us that we might lose our ability to educate schoolchildren, or save the lives of sick and injured sea turtles — programs that define the very heart and soul of our mission,” Kevin Mills, president and CEO of the South Carolina Aquarium, said in a statement.
Each year, about 80% of the aquarium’s income comes from its general admission tickets and membership sales, but 2020 was different.
Those once-dependable revenue sources evaporated when the pandemic forced the aquarium to shut its doors for 68 days, a closure that came at the worst possible time: Right at the start of the aquarium’s busy season.
Instead, the aquarium saw no visitors from spring break through the end of summer — the critical weeks when the aquarium typically makes the majority of its revenue for the entire year.
Despite securing millions in federal relief, it wasn’t enough to overcome the cash shortfall.
In response, the aquarium launched its “Our World Without” fundraising campaign and told the public it needed to raise $1.6 million by the end of March or risk losing its education programming and shuttering its Sea Turtle Care Center.
The Sea Turtle Care Center is the only rehabilitation center for sea turtles in the state. In the past, the aquarium also admitted out-of-state sea turtles when their home aquariums were too full to care for them.
For example, in the winter, the South Carolina aquarium often helped rehabilitate so-called “cold stunned” sea turtles stranded in chilly northeastern waters. Last year, the center could only care for in-state turtles, like Queen.
Queen, an adult loggerhead sea turtle with cataracts, is still receiving care at the center after she was found stranded on Kiawah Island in June. With future funding secure, her care is no longer in jeopardy.
The aquarium said the fundraising goal was met after thousands of supporters from “multiple countries and nearly every state in the U.S.” chipped in to help, whether it was sharing news of the aquarium’s struggles on social media or a hosting a birthday fundraiser, a 5K run or a roadside “concert” to raise money.
“We are so grateful for the tremendous outpouring of public support that enables this work to continue,” Mills said.
When the fundraising campaign launched in the fall, the aquarium’s CEO and president had said they risked losing “the heart and soul of who we are.”
Instead, the downtown Charleston attraction met its goal three weeks early.
By Thursday morning, the aquarium’s fundraising website had already been updated with words of gratitude.
“In the end…our heart and soul was you.”
And so, the work can continue.
A spokesman for the aquarium said the Sea Turtle Care Center recently admitted its first turtle of 2021.
This story was originally published March 9, 2021 at 12:55 PM.
