Unique Experiences

Item Description

Jim Toomey — Creator of Sherman’s Lagoon & Ocean Activist

Meet for lunch or dinner in Annapolis, Maryland / Washington, DC area

Jim Toomey is an award-winning ocean conservationist who created the popular comic strip Sherman’s Lagoon, which appears in over 200 daily newspapers, in 20 countries and six languages.  The strip’s underwater theme explores environmental issues in a way that appeals to adults and children alike.  Sherman the Shark inhabits a sunny lagoon in the South Pacific, relishing his tropical paradise with other ocean friends. 

Sherman's Lagoon combines two of Jim’s life-long passions:  art and the sea. In addition to creating the daily comic strip, Jim is an award-winning videographer.  He produces ocean conservation videos that combine on-camera hosting with animations of his undersea characters.  Jim has a degree in mechanical engineering from Duke University, received his Master of Arts at Stanford University, and returned to Duke to get his Masters of Environmental Management.

He has given talks at a variety of venues, from his April 2010 TED Talk, to the Royal Society in London, to Harvard University to his children’s kindergarten class.  Jim has been featured in many of his client newspapers, as well as Wired Magazine, and National Public Radio.

The conservation messages in his comic strip earned him the Environmental Hero Award presented by NOAA on behalf of Vice President Al Gore “for using art and humor to conserve and protect our maine heritage”. He has also contributed his comic characters and other illustrations to educational materials published by NOAA for the purpose of raising environmental awareness.

                                                          http://www.slagoon.com/

Item Special Note

The objective of this auction is to spotlight individuals and organizations working effectively for ocean conservation, and raise funds for field research, education and conservation projects.

Being auctioned is dinner or lunch with one the world’s foremost shark experts or celebrities. This is a unique opportunity to “talk shark” face-to-face, one-on-one, with a real authority on sharks. 

How it works:

1. Bid on a celebrity, shark scientist or conservationist that lives or works in your area, unless you are willing to drive or fly to meet them in their area.
2. The winning bidder pays for the lunch or dinner and may bring guests.
3. We will introduce the winning bidder to the celebrity, scientist or conservationist. The two of you then set a mutually agreeable date, time and place to meet within one year of the close of the auction.

All winning bids are deductible from US Federal 2017 income taxes as Charitable Donations.