Phone calls or emails from Mr. Gray are bright spots in my year. Of course it is always a pleasure to hear from foundations like the Gordon and Patricia Gray Animal Welfare Foundation which can offer financial support for our organization. But Mr. Gray clearly cares personally about our work. His curious mind is always probing when we talk or write one another. He wants to know what we are doing and why. He wants to understand how it will help us conserve endangered sea turtles here in Canada and in other parts of the world. He asks for our opinion on his ideas for sea turtle conservation. He treats us as intelligent partners in the work of the Gray Foundation.

By virtue of Mr. Gray's interest, we become better at communicating our goals and our funding needs. We think things through in different ways than we might have otherwise. And we know by the excitement in his voice and his detailed responses to our emails that he cares deeply about the sea turtles we work to conserve and about the success and strength of our organization.

This year, the Gordon and Patricia Gray Animal Welfare Foundation is helping support the Canadian Sea Turtle Centre, an educational space in Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia. It is the only sea turtle educational centre in Canada, and we are excited about its potential to reach thousands of visitors over the course of a summer.

When Mr. Gray wrote to me about it, he mentioned his interest in it particularly among our programs because of his memories of a trip he took with his parents to Peggy's Cove as a child. I love that story. I love the idea of this man "who was to become an enormously successful businessman in his life" standing on the rocks of Nova Scotia as a little boy, marveling at the ocean swirling around their edges. There were sea turtles there, swimming in the depths beyond the rocks. That little boy didn't know it, nor did scientists at that time.

But Mr. Gray carried that sense of wonder about the natural world through his life. It didn't dissipate, as it sometimes does for people. Instead he nurtured it. And today, he is helping the sea turtles swimming in the ocean he visited those many years ago.

We are the beneficiaries of the generosity of Mr. Gray and his family. Gifts born of the kind of genuine care and passion that exists in the Gordon and Patricia Gray Animal Welfare Foundation are special. They do more than increase your financial capacity. They increase your confidence, your drive and your ability to imagine and implement innovative solutions to difficult problems. We are so proud of our work with the Gray family.

Update April 2020:

Thank you! This is wonderful news! The ongoing support of the Foundation has meant so much to us and to our ability to educate Canadians about the challenges facing endangered sea turtles as well as the work we are doing to help them.