We recently connected with Martha Frassica-Rivera and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Martha, thanks for joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.
The biggest life changing risk that I have taken was purchasing the land that the Everglades Outpost Wildlife Sanctuary runs out of and taking over the sanctuary and continuing the mission with my family. This all happen two weeks before the shut down due to the pandemic in March of 2020 so it was a big emotional and financial risk. A little back story on how this all came to be! My husband and I began to volunteer at the Outpost over 12 years ago. We became very involved with the sanctuary, leading to me eventually leaving my job in the human ER to fully take on the management role of the sanctuary as the founder was caring for his terminally ill wife. When she passed away, we all sat down and discussed what we wanted to happen to the sanctuary and my husband and I agreed to take on the responsibility of running the sanctuary. It has been quite the ride! But we have loved every second of it, and being able to rescue, rehabilitate and release animals with our young children is something that we never thought would be possible. From ordering dry goods for the animals, to habitat maintenance, to rehabbing animals and helping with wildlife educational programs, it is truly a family run sanctuary. Three years later, we are still here and could not see ourselves anywhere else. We are fortunate to have a solid group of people that help us with the running of the sanctuary, such as Amanda Mazorra, who is our general manager.
Martha, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Everglades Outpost Wildlife Sanctuary is a nonprofit wildlife sanctuary dedicated to the rescue, rehabilitation and placement of wild and endangered animals. Throughout our years of service we have also grown to become a valuable partner in raising awareness, appreciation and understanding of wildlife and natural resources by educating the public. We were founded in 1992 and have become Florida’s largest nonprofit alligator sanctuary (housing over 100 alligators that would have otherwise been euthanized), and are South Florida’s largest nonprofit sanctuary (housing over 150 animals that would have otherwise been euthanized). We have provided shelter and care to thousands of animals throughout the years, and have created successful volunteer programs. All of the animals at our sanctuary have been confiscated from illegal or abusive situations by FWC, USDA or simply abandoned at our sanctuary. We are licensed on a federal and state level and are authorized to go out on rescue calls. Our mission is not funded by the state or Miami-Dade County. We are contingent on the generosity of our community to ensure that our mission does not stop. Increasing human population and ensuing loss of habitat has led to an alarming rise in the number of injured and displaced wildlife. Our primary concern has become the rescue and rehabilitation of these animals and for those that we cannot release we provide quality of care for the reminder of their life.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
Being an ethical person. The sanctuary is run based on the thought that all animals deserve peace and dignity. With that in mind, we do not do cub petting, alligator wrestling, or force the animals to do anything that they do not want to do. It has cost us revenue (since we do not offer much “entertainment”) but because of it, people in our market know that any animal that is brought here will live out their best life and that has lead to us having a stellar reputation in our market.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Managing the sanctuary through the Covid pandemic was a test of my resilience. I had to come up with different ideas that would still continue to bring an income in, while ensuring that all of our animals stayed safe. We lost a lot of our volunteers and that was hard, because the level of wok and quality of life did not diminish for the animals. We also continued to take in rescued native wildlife. But through creative thinking, a little faith and hard work, we made it through.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.evergladesoutpost.org
- Instagram: @evergladesoutpost
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@EvergladesOutpost