Members of Friends of Patuxent volunteer countless hours at the Patuxent Research Refuge, and financially support research, conservation, and education programs and activities through Friends of Patuxent memberships, donations, and purchases at the Wildlife Images Bookstore & Nature Shop.

There is another way you can provide support long into the future: by listing Friends of Patuxent as a beneficiary in your will or as a beneficiary on your annuity, trust, insurance policies, securities, or other types of accounts. The Board of Directors of Friends of Patuxent is pleased to announce that long-time Friends’ member and Refuge volunteer (and Volunteer of the Year in 2017), Stephanie Everett, recently designated Friends of Patuxent as a beneficiary on her annuity. Here she explains why she did so:

“Over the years I have enjoyed many wonderful hours at Patuxent Research Refuge. Being a refuge volunteer has become my ‘job’ now that I am retired, and it’s the best job I have ever had! It brings me great joy to share my love of nature with others –especially children –and to hear their exclamations of wonder when they see something that excites them, or when they learn something new.

“Patuxent is a refuge not only for wildlife, but also for people. It offers a close-to-home escape from the noise, the concrete and the frenzied pace of our increasingly urban and artificial world. Whether you’re scanning the treetops with binoculars searching for an elusive bird, walking the trails and breathing in the fresh scents of spring, or just sitting quietly on a bench and listening
with your eyes closed, time in nature restores one’s soul.

“I have chosen to make a bequest to The Friends of Patuxent to help ensure that this precious place of peace is preserved for future generations, and so that quality programs and activities can continue to educate our visitors, in spite of the vagaries of governmental funding. My hope is that Patuxent will always be a place where people can spend time enjoying nature and learning about it, so that they will come to love it as I do, and thus work to protect it.”

This is a wonderful gift to Friends of Patuxent, and to the Patuxent Research Refuge. We hope Stephanie’s actions will inspire others to follow her lead.