Siesta Key Volunteers of the Year
By Jane Bartnett
You both received the Siesta Key Chamber of Commerce Volunteer of the Year Award in late January. As Siesta Key residents, what did this honor mean to you?
Tina and Larry Landry: As residents of Siesta Key, and seeing the community spirit over the past year, winning this award feels like a meaningful “thank you” from the Chamber of Commerce and the businesses that help make the island run. It represents a transition from simply being residents to being recognized members of the community.
What organizations do you support together and separately? In considering each of your commitments, what is it about these roles that keeps bringing you back?
Larry: Tina is a bit like someone who could never turn away a stray. She volunteers in a wide variety of roles, and I often get “volunteered” by association. I recently started working with Habitat for Humanity. I built houses every summer from age 15 to 21, and during COVID, I took time off from work to build our house in California with my son. I enjoy building, and Habitat allows me to do that for people working toward the dream of homeownership.
Tina: I volunteer at the Siesta Key Chamber of Commerce Visitor Center, answering phones and assisting walk-in visitors. I also serve as a Beach Ambassador on Siesta Beach.
Larry: Tina loves people, makes friends everywhere she goes and rarely meets someone she doesn’t like. If she gets a question she doesn’t know the answer to, she’ll come home and research it until she feels confident not only in that answer, but in related topics as well.
Tina is also passionate about sand sculpting. She regularly creates sculptures on the beach and looks forward to the Crystal Classic every November, where she volunteers throughout the week. While I don’t share her artistic carving ability or patience, I appreciate those who do, so I help with the manual labor — mostly shoveling sand.
Recently, Tina became a Siesta Key Association board member, working with the beautification alliance, supporting related infrastructure and assisting with canal cleanup efforts.
Our home was flooded by Hurricanes Helene and Milton, and the damage was heartbreaking. After we cleaned up and began restoring our home, the debris in the canal was just as difficult to see. We couldn’t go for a kayak ride without returning with it filled with debris collected from the water and mangroves. While I was finishing work on the house, Tina was volunteering on water cleanup efforts along the Intracoastal. She is now helping organize a canal cleanup event to remove larger debris that remains.
Tina, has your background as a nurse practitioner helped shape your interest in the health of Siesta Key’s water? You are a citizen scientist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and a new board member of the Siesta Key Association. What plans do you have to continue improving the health of the Grand Canal and build on the work started by Jean Cannon and her team?
Tina: As a citizen scientist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, I help monitor red tide levels. The reopening of Midnight Pass has had a significant impact on the clarity of the Intracoastal Waterway. It allows water to flow more freely through the ecosystem, and the difference has been remarkable.
Siesta Key’s Grand Canal has only one outlet, which means pollution flows into it and takes longer to dissipate. Regarding the mini reefs, our first priority after Hurricanes Helene and Milton is to assess their condition. Are they still attached to the docks where they were originally installed? I’ve let Jean Cannon know we will be reaching out to previous participants to evaluate their status. The Siesta Key Association remains committed to the health of the Grand Canal.
The association has been supportive of my focus on the Grand Canal and is providing resources. We are in the early stages of gathering information for a cleanup effort. With guidance from Sarasota County Commissioner Mark Smith, I have connected with several departments. We are also grateful for Sarasota Bay Watch’s interest in assisting with debris removal in the near future.
Larry, thanks to your craftsmanship, visitors to the Siesta Key Chamber of Commerce Visitor Center have benefited from the lending library you built. Hundreds of books have been donated and shared since it was installed in 2024. What other projects have you created to support the community, and which have been most rewarding?
Larry: I’ve always enjoyed building and figuring things out. There’s a saying in my family: “How hard can it be?” So, there’s very little I won’t attempt. When the transmission on my MG Midget failed, I bought a manual, rented an engine hoist and rebuilt it.
I had several projects I never quite had time for. Since retiring, I’ve been able to take on some of those, as well as help neighbors. The lending library was built mostly from leftover wood from a Murphy bed I made for our office/guest room. I’ve also built a Sisyphus table — an automated sand-drawing table — and created an app to help people learn the card game euchre.
Recently, I’ve been experimenting with a 3D printer, which has given me ideas for a puzzle lending library at the Visitor Center.
I even designed a 3D-printed litter box to reduce tracking — but our cat refuses to use it.
What advice would you give to people who want to get more involved and volunteer in their community?
Larry: Just start. If something sounds interesting, try it. If you’re unsure, try it anyway. If it’s not the right fit, move on to something else. If you don’t know what opportunities are out there, a simple internet search can help — try “volunteer opportunities Siesta Key.”
If you want something more personalized, you can use tools like Gemini or ChatGPT and ask something like, “I enjoy doing X and want to volunteer on Siesta Key. What opportunities might be a good fit?”
Tina actually learned about the Visitor Center role through a Siesta Sand article in December 2023.
