Allie Hartmann for the Everglades

“I am someone who is endlessly moved by the quiet power of the Everglades. There’s something about this place — the vast skies, the ancient, winding cypress, the endless fields of sawgrass swaying over slow-moving water — that captures you. Here, the ghost orchid clings to trees in stillness, and gators slip through the water like shadows, connecting us to a world that has existed far beyond our lifetimes.

Working for Friends of the Everglades is a privilege that reminds me every day why these lands need protecting. Our mission is simple and essential: to ensure this place, with all its raw beauty and untamed life, is here not just for us, but for future generations.

This Give Miami Day, we’re rallying to continue this work, to keep speaking up for the Everglades in the face of all that threatens it. If the Everglades has touched your life in any way, as it has mine, — or if you simply believe in the importance of preserving wild places — please consider donating. Every dollar goes directly toward protecting this one-of-a-kind landscape. Thank you for standing with me.” 

— Allie Hartman, Communications Director at Friends of the Everglades

Friends of the Everglades is a grassroots, nonprofit organization founded in Miami in 1969 by Marjory Stoneman Douglas that advocates for the protection of Florida's precious natural ecosystems. When pollutants and toxic algae plague our waters, when sugarcane burning harms air quality in the Glades communities south of Lake Okeechobee, and when the health of the Everglades' unique ecosystem is threatened, we educate and activate the public so we can collectively have a positive impact on environmental policy. We walk in the footsteps of our founder, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, by promoting a greater understanding of the importance of protecting, preserving, and restoring the only Everglades in the world.