Events
*** SOLD OUT ***
National Wildlife Refuge Week Membership/Donor Lunch
Thursday, October 17, 2024 11:30 AM Benvenuto Restaurant Boynton Beach, FL $65 per person $600 reserved table for eight Deadline to register: October 7, 2024
*** SOLD OUT ***
Tickets are no longer available for this event
The lunch held at Benvenuto Restaurant, Boynton Beach, FL will begin at 11:30 AM with a Meet & Mingle to get to know like-minded individuals who support the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. Lunch begins at Noon and will feature Betty Osceola, 2024 recipient of the Defenders of the Everglades award as our keynote speaker.
Betty Osceola is a member of the Miccosukee Tribe of Florida from the Panther clan, Osceola is a Native American Everglades educator, conservationist, anti-fracking, and clean water advocate. Born and raised in the Everglades, where at the turn of the 20th century the Miccosukee were still traveling coast-to-coast across subtropical wetlands by canoe, Osceola now captains and operates the Buffalo Tiger Airboat Tours on Tamiami Trail, near Miami. Born 20 years before her birthplace and family home were named America’s first national preserve, Osceola quips, “I live in the Big Cypress National Preserve, but I was here before it. I consider myself fortunate to have grown up so connected to nature when we still had clean water, plenty of wading birds and we could still live off the land, growing crops on the tree islands. Today the waters are too polluted to do that.
Other presenters include Steve Henry, Deputy Project Leader, A.R.M. Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge and Ranger Rae Milmore who will speak on the Urban Community Outreach Program (Floating Wetlands and Urban Pocket Refuges). Friends President Michelle Hendricks will update members on the organization.
A special thank you to our Champion Sponsor Florida Power & Light.
Visit the Refuge Events page for events presented by Refuge staff and volunteers.