December 2023
Dear N.E.S.T. Partner,
I hope this letter finds you well. We are reaching out to you today to request any support you can provide. N.E.S.T.
is committed to protecting and conserving sea turtles on the Outer Banks and we’ve been working hard to fulfill
that mission but cannot do it alone. That’s why we’re asking for your help.
It’s been another busy year and thanks to the financial support we’ve received, our nearly 500 active volunteers
had the equipment and supplies they needed to continue our mission. This year, they logged over 13,000 hours
searching 50 miles of beach every day during nesting season, identifying, monitoring and protecting 37 nests, and
responding to nearly 100 strandings. The extra effort they provided resulted in over 2,000 hatchlings making it
safely to the ocean.
The tireless work our extraordinary volunteers do is only possible due to your support. Your donations make it
possible to provide all the nesting supplies volunteers need so they wouldn’t have to purchase themselves in
addition to donating all their time. We were able to continue our efforts to replace aging ATVs before they became
unreliable so we had only two minor issues on the beach. A record! We increased our educational efforts,
implementing the sea turtle curriculum in the last of five Dare County elementary schools and providing funding to
replace books and other materials to the other four. We expanded the number of events at which we have
educational booths to a total of 16 in 2023 and will continue the expansion. Generous donations have allowed us
to buy more educational materials, encouraging young and not so young to do their part to protect our beloved sea
turtles.
For the first time in anyone’s memory, a nesting sea turtle was run over on the four-wheel drive beach and had to
be euthanized. We will be buying signs to be posted on the beach so drivers will know to watch out for sea turtles
on the beach during nesting season. Again, the contributions we receive allow us to do this and, hopefully, avoid
another incident.
Every dollar you donate will go directly towards our mission, and every donation, no matier how big or small, will
make a difference to our cherished sea turtles as well as our great volunteers.
Please send your tax-deductible donation to N.E.S.T., P.O. Box 1073, Kitty Hawk, NC 27949, or make an online credit card donation on our webpage at https://www.nestonline.org.
Thank you very much for your continued support.
Tony Parisi, President