The Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum & Aquarium recently held its annual benefit gala at The Community House on Sanibel. The event called Enchantment Under the Sea raised funds to expand the Museum’s K-12 school programs through an auction. The exact amount is not released.
The money from the gala will grow the Museum’s capacity to serve more schools throughout Southwest Florida. The Museum currently educates about 15,000 K-12 students annually and is at full capacity with a waiting list of schools that would like to participate. The event’s proceeds will support the additional vehicles, educational materials, and staffing needed to serve a broader network of schools; and most importantly will make these programs available at reduced or no cost to schools, most of which are Title 1.
All students participating in the Museum’s school programs receive first-hand experience with live mollusks and marine life, shell identification games and interactive activities, and education about conservation, the importance of clean water, and our Southwest Florida coastal ecosystems. For many students, it is their first exposure to shells, the animals that make them, and these educational themes…