Bank of the Islands donates $10,000 to SCCF
On Oct. 28, the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation (SCCF) announced a $5.3 million fundraising campaign, “Honoring The Past – Protecting The Future,” which includes the purchase of the 28.3-acre Bailey Family Homestead.
To date, $750,000 has been raised, including a $10,000 donation from Bank of the Islands.
The Bank of the Islands campaign donation will be used to disseminate campaign materials to every household on Sanibel and Captiva.
“It’s so important to share this exciting opportunity with all our island neighbors,” said Bank of the Islands President Robbie Roepstorff. “It will be very hard to reach the goal without island-wide support.”
“I’m so glad our first donation from the business community came from Robbie and Geoff, Florida’s Bankers of the Year,” said SCCF’s Executive Director Erick Lindblad. “It’s a good fundraising omen when the top bankers are on your side.”
SCCF must reach the campaign goal of $5.3 million by June 2011, which is when the one-year option agreement to purchase the Bailey Family Homestead will expire. The property has more than 1,000 feet fronting Periwinkle Way and would preserve a critical wildlife corridor on Sanibel’s east end, connecting city-owned land to the east (including Pond Apple Park) with conservation land to the west (Roadside City Park, SCCF and Refuge land).
The purchase price for 28.3 acres of wildlife habitat and the historic home of one of Sanibel’s first families is $4 million.
Consistent with earlier land acquisitions, SCCF needs to raise an additional 10 percent of the purchase price, or $400,000, to support the initial restoration and ongoing management of the land in perpetuity. Since its founding in 1967, SCCF has helped acquire and preserve almost 2,300 acres of wildlife habitat.
Plans include the restoration of the 1896 Bailey family home as an Interpretive Center, where Bailey family history — as well as the conservation history of the islands — will be told through self-guided tours. The initial restoration will cost $225,000, not including the sweat equity offered by SCCF’s volunteer carpenters, the Hammerheads.
Future plans include a Butterfly House and a Native Plant Nursery presence, a place for teaching ethnobotany and sustainable home gardening through the use of an edible classroom growing on the premises.
As needed each year, the last component of the fundraising campaign supports the quality work being done in all SCCF program areas, and $675,000 must be raised as part of this campaign.
Counting land acquisition, restoration of wildlife habitat and the Bailey home, and program needs, $5.3 million must be raised by June 24, 2011.
To contribute to the campaign or learn more about SCCF, please call Erick Lindblad at 472-2329 or Cheryl Giattini at 395-2768, visit www.sccf.org or drop by the Nature Center at 3333 Sanibel-Captiva Road on Sanibel.