LLSA Chamber Small Business of the Year Awards: Save Our Seabirds

Bird rescue isn’t a job for Save Our Seabirds Inc. Executive Director Lee Fox.

Fox arrives at the City Island facility after commuting from her Wimauma home before 6 a.m. most days.
When she returns home in the evening, there are usually injured birds that have been dropped off waiting for her.

“It’s a passion,” Fox says.

Fox began doing volunteer bird-rescue work in 1987, because her children were grown. In 1990, she founded Save Our Seabirds and opened a facility in St. Petersburg and later moved the facility to Wimauma. But she longed for a facility that could be open to the public and used for education.

In 2007 she approached the city of Sarasota about the old Pelican Man’s Bird Sanctuary, approximately six months after it had closed. It took a year-and-a-half and five meetings with Sarasota officials. But, finally, on Oct. 15, 2008, the facility’s first residents arrived, and on Nov. 1, 2008, Save Our Seabirds Inc. was officially open to the public.

Fox and her staff of 13 who manage the daily operations of Save Our Seabirds could have a big challenge ahead: Fox and her staff members have been on 24-hour standby since April, when the BP oil spill occurred, and could be deployed to lead wildlife rescue efforts in Florida.

BUSINESS BASICS

Location: 1708 Ken Thompson Parkway

Start date: Nov. 1, 2008

Number of employees when started: Two

Number of employees today: 13

Advice: Learn as much as you can about the non-profit you’re interested in, and find out what you need to accomplish it.