Welcome to Women Volunteers, a GFWC-NC podcast where we talk with women across North Carolina, who volunteer their time in support of community improvement. We'll find out how they got started, how they manage these projects and the impact of their volunteer actions.
Welcome, I'm so glad you've joined us today I am here with two individuals from GFWC of Holden Beach to talk about an interesting project they took on with the Sea Biscuit Wildlife Shelter. Today with me are Cindy and Pam and I will introduce them to you, Cindy Lee has been a member of GFWC of Holden Beach for just about four years, and co-chairs the Environment Committee. She has two children and three grandchildren and her husband's getting ready to retire soon, which sounds like that could be fun. She spent 20 years scheduling surgeries at Johns Hopkins and since then has her own business refinishing reclaimed furniture for local stores. While involved with GFWC of Holden Beach. She has been involved with many projects, including collecting over a ton of clothes and household items that benefited nine shelters in the local area and collecting more than 11,000 corks to recycle. Welcome, Cindy.
Thank you, Kelly. Thank you for having me.
I'm glad you're here and we also have Pam Foertsche with us. Now Pam Foertsche joined GFWC of Holden Beach, I think back in 2007 and took a break for several years and has been an active member for the past four. She co-chairs the Environment Committee and has previously served as a membership chair. She retired to North Carolina in 2005 from Maryland where she lived with her husband. She has two children and five grandchildren. She previously worked for the Maryland General Assembly, Westinghouse Electric, and has worked in Brunswick County for the Brunswick Board of Elections as a poll worker and office helper as well as a chief judge during the pandemic which seems like it's never going to end. She has worked at the Brunswick County Health Department on their COVID hotline welcome, Pam.
Thank you Kelly. Glad to be here with you.
Glad you're here. So ladies, tell me about the Sea Biscuit Wildlife Shelter what is what is it you did with them
Started in the beginning is I saw an article in a local magazine called Carolina country and it talked about a pelican that they rescued they called him Plucky the lucky pelican. So I read that and I thought, oh that they had taken the Pelican back to Sea Biscuit for rehab and for him to recover. So that just sort of piqued my interest. And I called Mary Ellen Rogers, who is the owner of Sea Biscuit Wildlife Shelter and talked to her and told her about our Women's Club and our Environment Committee. She was excited, and she thought it would be great for us to come down. She was going to give us a tour. And so I talked to Cindy, my co-chair and then we organized this outing. And we took some committee members with us and a couple of the board members. And we went down and I mean, it was terrific. So we saw the release of an Osprey while we were there.
Oh, wow.
And I mean, she took us into her surgical area and just showed us all the different wildlife that she had. So it was it was it was and Mary Ellen is very, very interesting to talk to she has so much to say.
Yeah.
And I mean, she really wanted us to be advocates. So we could teach other people let them know what was going on there and what they provided.
Okay, so you went and did a tour. Knowing that you're looking for you saw it was interesting. You know, obviously work with the Environment Committee is something you could do, did you identify pretty quickly something you wanted to do with them.
She was always looking for volunteers to be a transport person in different areas along the coast, because the people in South Carolina will meet people in North Carolina to transfer birds to bring to her because she is the closest one.
Okay, so transport means that you would pick up a bird or take a bird to somewhere as need be, right?
Right. If somebody in South Carolina had an injured bird, somebody closer to the line would go and pick that bird up and hand it off to me. And then I would transport to Oak Island.
How do you do that? I mean, is that pretty common?
It is. It's not that common to go and pick up a bird from I've never done it. We've only done it once the whole committee went to South Carolina to release, but normally it's just rescuing birds here on our beach.
Okay.
And probably I've done 40 birds and other animals.
Oh, wow.
Raccoons and squirrels and ferrets. And
Really?
Yeah, she takes all the bird
Owls
and well, I didn't have that owl thing.
Oh, you got a good owl, huh?
No, I'm laughing That's his theory. But But, um, no, she takes all kinds of animals in. She's not allowed to take in raccoons. So when I took the raccoon, it had to be outside until somebody from Wilmington came to get it. Because it's a rabies thing for the state. They can't do that. But yeah, it's a ton of birds. And after a storm, it's the worst. Because all of these poor birds get washed up.
Really?
Yeah, but the wind and the waves and they just can't survive. Some of them do so.Yeah.
So you guys thought it was a something you could do was to do the transport of the birds. And the rescue of birds. You also did some other things for them. Right?
We did. You know I I The committee was very, very interested in in do and using Sea Biscuit as our main project of the year for the Environment Committee.
Oh, nice. Yeah.
And so that's where we really put a lot of our attention was when Sea Biscuit we had we got while you want to talk about the crate?
Oh will donated crates to her and paper to Yeah, just her needs that towels and medicine bottles and
Are there specific kinds of crates that you donated or...
They're like dog crates, you know?
Okay, all right, pet transport creates, like for airplanes and stuff for for the house.
Some metal ones. Quite a few.
Yeah, because when there's a storm, she's got to bring all of those birds into her tiny little beach house.
Tiny little...
Tiny, and she somehow gets all of those crates into that tiny little beach house and brings it all in. But I mean, we really started this. After we went to the tour, she had called one day and said, Would you guys be willing to transport to pelicans to South Carolina? So we said, sure. You know, you come in with us? And she said, Oh, no, you can do it on your own. So we did, we took him and we had what four or five committee members. Yeah. Girl Scout. And it was cool. We took it back to where they came from. And you just unzip the crate. And there they went.
Wow. So is that common that you take them back to wherever they were collected?
Yeah. Okay.They always go back to where they came because pelicans especially are family oriented, or meat oriented. So they stay with their family, or pick them up from they have to go back to
Wow. So you guys, I assume you have some sort of training, obviously to do things a little bit.
I had gone because I was a little bit of free to pick them up. Because when she called me one day and say, can you go and get this pelican? I said I don't know how to pick up a pelican. She said oh, I'll tell you and she walked me through it. And pelican is the easiest bird to pick up now.
Oh, is it really?
Yeah, definitely. So but yeah, she gave a training course it was a bunch of people there. I think it was turtle patrol from Sunset Beach or something. They get their lesson. So yeah, I learned a lot from that training session. And from just going, taking birds to her. I've learned how to tube feed the birds how to check them for mites on their body and ulcers in their mouth. How to weigh them, how to feed them for malnutrition. Yeah, it's Oh, it's a new new experience with her.
So besides being our project, this ended up being a full-time I'm going to say career for Cindy. She though is.
Mary Ellen had said to us when we were at the training course, she said, alright people, here's the deal. When I call, don't fix your hair, don't even put your clothes on. If you're in your pajamas, don't stop at Walmart on the way to get a bird just get the bird and bring it to me. It's like you are a paramedic, you'll get the bird and run and just get to me as quick as you can. So that's always good, because I'm always ready to run at a moment's notice. I was in the grocery store the other day, and somebody called thankfully the bird was right next door in a parking lot. So that was easy to pick up.
That's funny. So what kind of birds do you what's the most common bird that you get?
You know, the most common? No, I don't think it's pelicans anymore. The most common now are shearwaters. There's four different kinds of shearwaters, and they're the ones that get washed up mostly after a storm.
Okay.
And they're very fragile. And they're not really small, but they just can't take the rushing of the waves, that's the most common. We've had, I'd probably say 10 pelicans, and they're always caught up in fishing nets or have a hook in their mouth all the time. So I've learned how to get the hook out without having to take it to Mary Ellen's so . So that's good. And you know, I can cut the line the fishing net off of it now. So that's good. That saves a trip down there.
But are the birds pretty calm when you do that? I mean, are they worn out or something by the time?
Yeah, they are. They're very tired from fighting.
Okay
But still, you got to be careful. Some of those birds have beaks that'll poke your eye out.
Do you wear like full protective goggles? Or? facemask?
No I do do. I do have one of those face shields that people use for COVID. But I've never used it. You just throw a towel over its head and it's fine. And then you think Oh,
interesting.
Every bird is different.
So what else have you guys done with the organization?
Well, one thing that we have done when I was saying before about reading that article about this mo they had they made a book called Plucky the lucky pelican.
Ah.
So so with the money that we had that was allotted to the Environment Committee, we purchased 13 of the books and we delivered books to we donated them to Supply Elementary, we delivered three to them to Virginia Williamson Elementary three to Union Elimentary one to Hope Harbor and then we donated three to the local Brunswick County Libraries. So brought, you know, brought the you know, contingent to the story. Yeah,
That's really cool. So, um, are there other places like this? You said, you know, you go to South Carolina. Some people may be geographically challenged. You know, how big an area are you covering?
My main area is Holden Beach. Lockwood Folly also, but I've gone into, you know, our local town here slowed or Supply to pick up birds, but mainly the birds come from the beach itself.
Okay. So this was a committee project, y'all went and did a tour. So how did you organize your club women to take on this project?
We just told them about this project. We I gave him a copy of the magazine article. And they all said, we had a meeting and they seemed enthused about it. So we went down. And then we talked about it later and decided this was going to be the project we wanted to do.
And we were supposed to do this big project last April. But Mary Ellen got sick. So she couldn't come to our meeting to be as she was in the hospital.
Oh, my goodness.
And it was a Zoom meeting. So she couldn't do it. So next month, in October is when we are doing our special meeting with her. And she will bring some resident pelicans with her.
Oh, wow. To be good. Yeah. And that's and this is an organization that's in your area, local area. Right. So, you know, you saw a magazine article, you found something I'm picking it you didn't know anything about it beforehand, right?
No, it did not. I love pelicans. I'd love to go to the beach and watch them as here come boys are flying together, but it just piqued my interest as I thought this, this would be really, really interesting. And I loved it. But Cindy's the one that made history here, so she's taking it on,
And that's only because I am retired, and I'm home all the time. When the phone rings, I never used to answer myself phone because I thought, oh, it's a solicitor. But now I have to answer my phone.
Okay.
It's a random person calling saying we have a bird. So then you just jump in the car and go.
So is the rest of the the committee in the club still actively doing things for the the Wildlife Center?
No not now. I, I kind of just took it over to do the running, because I'm the only one that's home all the time. Okay. The ladies are doing other things.
So it's an interesting story. I mean, there's some interesting things on it that I think, you know, one that, you know, rescuing the birds, that in itself was an interesting story. And you're learning how to do that. Right? You probably never in a million years thought
Never
...gonna end up saving birds and driving them to different places, right?
Never.
Mm hmm. And it's something that's in your community. Yeah. And one thing that I think I find, you know, in talking with club women across North Carolina, is, you know, trying to figure out, you know, what, what project are they going to take on? What can they what good can they do? Right, and, and trying to find that match. And it's sometimes it's serendipitous, you know, you run into something and you go, and it's like, wow, this is really cool. Or you see a magazine article, and you follow up on it. So there's some great ways for people to to find some of those right? I hear, you know, Google is a very popular one I'm googling, looking for, you know, environmental projects on you know how to do things. So it sounds pretty cool. It is just, she's just her. She's the only one at this.
She lives there and works. It's a nice, big, tiny, I mean to like, in the top floor, she lives and the bottom floor is all the birds and her operating room and all of it.
Her freezers full of food.
I mean, she's got four freezers with fish and mice.
Oh, I didn't even think about what are these birds eat, right?
They all eat different things. And they have, she does have a lot of volunteers. It takes a village to run a shelter. And they all come in the morning, and they all come back at dinnertime. And they all feed. They all have separate plates for these different birds. Some get fish, some get mice, some get dog food. But it's a whole different diet that these birds get.
So it's never consistent, right? Because she doesn't know what birds she's gonna have. Right?
Correct.
Wow.
I was there the other day doing a bird and her freezer went out. And she was waiting for a freezer to be delivered as an emergency that day. And she had just had delivered 500 pounds of fish, because she's not going to be able to get those fish come winter. So she had a whole freezer stocked up and the door was left cracked, and it started to melt or something. So she had to get a new freezer, just keep this fish frozen for the winter.
And it's hard to get appliances right now. Actually, supply chain shortage is a whole nother issue, right?
Yep. That's what was her problem. But she did get it because she is nonprofit.
That's good.
The necessity for her to have it to feed these animals.
She's an amazing lady.
So what did you What surprised you most about doing this project?
The amount of birds that are injured? I mean, I never knew all that. And I never knew that there was a place to take injured birds.
I mean, the first when we went for the visit with our committee, she told us that they had rescued 515 birds that year.
Wow.
And now it's double this year.
Really?
Oh, yes.
Why is that?
I think it was because of the storms.
We had more storms this year.
Yes. Not it's not hurricanes, but just storms.
I guess that's probably something we kind of get in our mind if you know storm for us may not be the same as storm for these seabirds especially right. Because it could be something that doesn't come completely on to the coast. Right. It just comes close. And then the strength of a storm is you know, has a disproportionate impact on a bird than I would expect it to have on a human.
Yeah, it's um I mean, this year waters were the worst this year. Like I said, the poor pelicans there, it's no fault of theirs. They don't know to stay away from shrimp boats.
Really
Yeah, I mean, they're attracted to the shrimp. So of course, they're gonna go and dive in for them, and then they get caught in the net. So, and even local fishermen that are on the beach fishing or on a pier, you know, they cast their line in and that Pelican sees that fish or that bait on the end and it goes right in for it and bites it and then it's in its mouth.
And then it's got the hook, right, yeah. Okay.
I will say though, it's very rewarding when we went back when we went down to South Carolina to release those two pelicans. And you see them nowadays, they, they just go into the water and they're more pelicans for a day. I don't their friends or groups, they, it was just really nice to know that they had had problems that she had rehabilitated those rescued and rehabilitated them. And then we put them back into the water. It was a nice little cycle to see that.
So what was it like? So what was it like to transport those pelicans? And then release them? Can you kind of describe it for people who might be listening?
I don't know, Cindy. I mean, I remember we were in the car, and we had to get you had to keep the windows down. It just got a little smelly.
Birds do have a strong scent, don't they an aroma?
Yeah, they did. I mean, they were quiet. I mean that they just, we could smell. And then when we got there, we just I think both of us carried a crate. And just put it down at the end of the pier. And we let them...
Like Pam said, it was very rewarding to see them go and join a group.
They didn't they didn't jump into water right away. And they sort of walked around. They were next to each other. We took a lot of pictures.
And yeah, we even had the newspaper there from South Carolina. He did a feature on that for the newspaper. That's it? Yeah, yeah.
Well, that's neat, I mean, it sounds like a cool project. And you really get to see the impact of your work and your effort. And it, you know, it's your community or, you know, a beach community. You know, that's, that's really neat. I'm glad you found it. And I'm glad you have shared your story. So willingly in so many different ways with people. I think it's really pretty awesome work, ladies.
It was it was great.
I don't think it will end. So anyway, project,
And Mary Ellen is trying to fund raise to build a larger facility. So I don't know if you know anything about what she's doing now with the fund raising.
Yeah, I'm not sure it's on her Facebook page, how the progress is coming. It's raw land that, you know how that goes. It's a lot of running the water, the electric, the sewer, all of that. So, but she has a lot of property that was gifted to her, and she just has to do the fundraising to come to fruition.
Maybe there's a future project with you all that, you know...
I'm sure
...for support. Thank you both so much for taking time and chatting with me this evening via zoom, you know, taking advantage of technology, saving a few miles on our cars, and you know, keeping our emissions down a little bit. But this is really exciting. And, you know, we'll see if you hear from others about your project, you know, I encourage our listeners to reach out to clubs, if they're curious about a project and how they might be able to replicate it in their own area or if they want to support what you're doing. Whether it's through, you know, joining in with your club, or, you know, helping fund some of the activities that you're doing in support of the organization or fund the organization. Right. Well, thank you so much.
Women Volunteers is a podcast by Kelly Paul for GFWC-NC. If you're interested in learning more about the General Federation of Women's Clubs of North Carolina, and how you can join these amazing women in improving our communities, please visit us on the web at GFWCNC.org
