Marco Shell Club Gives Scholarships and Grants

For the past 40 years the Marco Island Shell Club has provided scholarships and grants to promote the study, conservation, science, history, and appreciation of seashells and mollusks in all their forms. Funding comes from the Holiday Sale, which happens the Friday after Thanksgiving, and their Annual Shell Show the second week in March. The funds are generated from the sale of handmade items created from sea shells. 

The Club also has two endowed scholarships at the Florida Gulf Coast University for undergraduate and graduate students majoring in Marine or Environmental Science.

So far this year, the Marco Shell Club has provided support to The Marco Island Charter Middle School’s science department, who will be receiving many items from their wish list including a pH meter, a moon phases model, USB adapter for their microscope, a grow box and a dissection pan, among other things.

Another recipient is the Marco Island Center for the Arts. They are being supported with an art supply distribution program that provides the essential art enrichment that many children may not be able to get due to their economic circumstance. The program is for underserved children of all ages who cannot come to the Art Center. These children will have free bags of art supplies delivered to them. The Shell Club designed projects, supplied photos, shells and directions. The Center for the Arts supplied the rest of the materials as well as distributing them to the children.

Other recipients include Rookery Bay Estuarine Reserve and the University of Florida at Tampa. More information on Scholarships and Grants can be found at the Marco Shell Club website: marcoshellclub.com.