Sales, and New Merchandise

Friends' Online Store's year-end sale features the luna, butterfly and women's tree shirts.

It also has some fun gift-idea items to consider. Take, for example, our earrings. They are made in America, actually in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, by a family of nature enthusiasts. There also is a Florida connection . . . earring artist and co-owner Kevin Abbott has a Wildlife Ecology degree from the University of Florida.

The nature-themed earrings are made of re-cycled, locally-sourced cereal boxes. We select sets that are appropriate to our part of Florida, such as roseate spoonbills, dolphins, box turtles, white pelicans, luna moths, swallow-tailed kites, red mangroves, and spicebush swallowtail butterflies. Most sets have different versions of the plant or animal for each ear. They are a charming $15 gift.

In 2022, we added a long-sleeved hooded shirt with trees specific to the Lower Suwannee Refuge and a short-sleeved shirt with an animals-at-sunset  design.

If you're looking for an alternative gift, the online store now has an option for you to make a gift to Friends "in appreciation of", or "in the name of" a nature-lover, especially one who cares about the Lower Suwannee and Cedar Keys Refuges. Donate any amount to Friends and we'll send a card with a refuge photo and a short message of your choice hand-written by one of us inside.

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All the purchases help Friends print brochures, maps, and trail guides; host the Annual Meeting (on the last Saturday in February); pay for the website platform and software; and sponsor our other activities. Purchases are an important revenue stream for Friends and your shopping with Friends is greatly appreciated.