If you love the penguins at Mystic Aquarium, you can help them just by wearing a penguin bracelet.
Alex and Ani, a popular jewelry company, is working with an organization called the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and proceeds from sales of the new Penguin Bangle will go to the organization.
“With the penguin charm, all the funding goes back to research, education, conservation, which Mystic Aquarium embodies fully, and is the perfect alignment with our mission,” Lauren Bettencourt, of Alex and Ani, said.
The mission Bettencourt is referring to is Charity By Design, the philanthropic arm of the company.
African penguins are an endangered species, Josh Davis, of Mystic Aquarium, said, and Mystic is an accredited AZA institution.
“(T)hat means that we get to participate in a species survival plan, so that means we’ll always have a healthy breeding population of penguins in zoos and aquariums,” Davis said.
Alex and Ani could have chosen any symbol, and there were several reasons behind choosing the penguin.
‘I think the holiday season didn’t hurt,” Bettencourt said. “Everyone loves penguins and we actually had a lot of requests that came in before for penguins.”
The Scene
If you want to make a donation, it’s as easy as buying a penguin bangle for $28. Twenty percent of the proceeds will go to AZA.
The bangle will soon be sold at Mystic Aquarium.
