WILMINGTON, N.C. — The Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center relies on visits from tourists to get by, something that’s been difficult during the pandemic.

To help keep the center afloat, the Going Local Artisan Gifts and Gallery in Wilmington came up with a plan.

“We decided to put on our first big art show, and the benefactor of this particular show is the Karen Beasley turtle rescue and rehabilitation hospital,” says Michelle Conely, owner of the art gallery. “It turned into an amazing event with some beautiful pieces of art.”

For the hospital, it makes all the difference.

“So when we were forced to close our doors to the public last year, we really also lost a great deal of revenue for the turtles,” says Kathy Zagzebski, Executive Director of the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center, “now people have really stepped up in a lot of ways, and this is one of them.”

Over 100 pieces of art were made for the show. Gallery visitors are allowed to buy those pieces, and that profit goes directly to the gallery, the artists, and the turtles. Zagzebski said that the show means so much more than simply helping the hospital with money, it’s also a reflection of the public’s love for sea turtles.

“I think it just speaks to what turtles mean to people,” Zagzebski says. “Having this many artists come together and all the participants who came and have been enjoying and buying the art really tells me how much we all feel so wonderful and powerful emotions about these sea turtles.”

Since the show’s opening, 20 pieces of art have been sold. Those sales, combined with T-shirt sales and raffle tickets, have raised an estimated $5,000 for the turtle hospital. That money will go toward providing food, medicine, and salt for the water.

“So just to have this art show, I mean it’s definitely going to make a big difference in helping make up for some of that, help us buy a lot of fish and a lot of medicine, and really help us to rehabilitate and allow these turtles to go back into their home where we all want to see them,” Zagzebski says.