Leadership Sarasota spruces up Save Our Seabirds space

By Dana Kampa
| 11:20 a.m. April 27, 2026

Surrounded by members of the Leadership Sarasota Class of 2026, staff from Save Our Seabirds and a cloud of confetti, Lisa Charles cuts the ribbon at the unveiling of an updated outdoor space at the bird sanctuary.

Longboat Key
Neighbors

Longboaters who haven't visited Save Our Seabirds in the past few months are in for a surprise. The bird sanctuary and education center recently got a hefty refresh of its landscaping and outdoor classroom areas from the helping hands of local changemakers via Leadership Sarasota.

The Class of 2026 celebrated the renovations with SOS staff during a ribbon-cutting ceremony April 22.

Projects included repainting, outfitting the outdoor theater with noise-prevention screening, new interactive signage, additional television screens for use at lectures, tamed greenery and other upgrades.

Lisa Charles, a local businessperson and member of the Leadership Sarasota Class of 2026, thanks her fellow classmates for all their contributions to refreshing Save Our Seabirds' outdoor spaces.

Lisa Charles, a member of the Leadership Sarasota Class of 2026 and CEO of the Embrace Your Fitness lifestyle brand, explained how her classmates' collaborative efforts made it happen.

She said 500 volunteer hours went into the renovation, and members brought in approximately $20,000 worth of donated supplies.

This is the 42nd class to participate in Leadership Sarasota, a program of the Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce, and 2026 soon-to-be-graduate Jamie Smith said she appreciates having such a high-quality, free resource available to local businesspeople who want to get more involved in their communities.

Leadership Sarasota classmates Jamie Smith, associate vice president of communications and government relations at State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota, and Jeanine Johnson, owner of SailorGirl Companies, celebrate the Save Our Seabirds renovation.

"It's a great opportunity to build networking and learn new leadership skills," she said.

Smith, associate vice president of communications and government relations at State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota, and classmate Jeanine Johnson, owner of SailorGirl Cos., said they put plenty of the classic "blood, sweat and tears" needed for such a project, and they were proud to look around at the results that evening.

"It's beautiful seeing it come to life," Smith added. "It's been a journey of transformation and a lot of hard work. For all of us who came together to do our parts, it's a lot of fun to see it come together."

Save Our Seabirds Executive Director Brian Walton thanked those who volunteered their hours and contributed materials to make the makeover possible. More than that, he expressed his appreciation for the community leaders' willingness to take an active interest in SOS's future growth.

Among the additions to the Save Our Seabirds outdoor education space is an interactive display where visitors can test their strength against that of an osprey. Executive director Brian Walton said even more coordinating signage should be going up soon around the education center.

"Even with your very busy personal and professional lives, you persevered through this project that was probably a bit challenging at times," he said. "Thank you for your effort."

He continued, "This goes way beyond the renovation of a physical space. This really becomes a connecting place, a place where education and inspiration will happen. This is where children will have up close and personal encounters with birds and hopefully be inspired by their beauty and importance."

Past projects have included a Serenity Garden at the Glasser/Schoenbaum Human Services Center and a playground at the Roy McBean Boys and Girls Club. For more on getting involved, visit SarasotaChamber.com/Leadership-Sarasota.

Class of 2026

This year's members of Leadership Sarasota include the following community leaders. Together, they contributed 500 volunteer hours to renovating Save Our Seabirds' outdoor space. They are: Kelly Addington, Jennifer Barbaro, Megan Baxter, Taylor Bennett, Will Bobbitt, Tyler Brown, Michael Butler, Hunter Carpenter, Lisa Charles, Terry Connor, Read Corley, Susan Courter, Jerry Dakin, Alex Davis, Cameron Dees, Brett DeHart, Renee Di Pilato, Austin Dickinson, Luis Dynia Sanchez, Miles Fox, Cassie Friedman, AJ Fritsch, Darren Gambrell, Alia Garrett, Dan Greenwald, David Hall, Victoria Hasselbring, Zach Henkel, Jeanine Johnson, Heather Koester, Xavier Koffman, Ariana Laboy Mena, MaryEllen Mancini, James O'Donnell, Kaitlyn Perez, David Plotkin, Jeffrey Pourchier, Arianne Roberts, Lane Ruise, Amber Rylak, Kristin Scarborough, Kyle Sebastian, Virginia Shearer, Devin Smith, Jamie Smith, Kevin Thompson, Stacy Van Buren, Stephen Wells, and Carrie Wilks.

author

Dana Kampa

Dana Kampa is the Longboat Key neighbors reporter for the Observer. She first ventured into journalism in her home state of Wisconsin, going on to report community stories everywhere from the snowy mountains of Washington State to the sunny shores of the Caribbean. She has been a writer and photographer for more than a decade, covering what matters most to readers.