INDIAN SHORES, Fla. — Giving Tuesday is an annual day of giving that’s always held the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving.

This year, the Seaside Seabird Sanctuary is participating, with workers saying the organization needs a lot more help this year because of Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

The avian hospital and sanctuary, which is really the only one of its kind in Pinellas County, helps thousands of injured birds every year. Those that aren’t able to be released back into the wild go on to live out their lives at the sanctuary.

Nearly two months after the storms, the Seaside Seabird Sanctuary still has some birds that weren’t able to return home because of damage to their enclosures, and they’re hoping to be able to raise enough funds from Giving Tuesday to bring everyone back home.

Sanctuary education coordinator Charlotte Arndt said damage caused by Helene and Milton was significant, with repair estimates ranging from $500,000-$800,000.

“It just blew right off their roof and came straight through there. This is our sandhill crane enclosure,” she said, pointing to the damaged enclosure. Arndt said the sanctuary was quoted a price of $50,000 to replace netting over the sandhill crane enclosure.

Sanctuary education coordinator Charlotte Arnd estimated there was anywhere from $500,000-$800,000 worth of damage caused by Helene and Milton. (Spectrum Bay News 9/Josh Rojas)

“We really are trying to get this netting back up as soon as we can so we can get Brad and Janet back home," Arndt said of the two sandhill cranes that normally live in the enclosure. "We really miss them, and we think they miss us. We don’t know, but we miss them."

Arndt said the sanctuary's hospital also flooded during the storms and is only operating at about 60-70% capacity today. And she said the storms damaged all kinds of medical equipment, and new drywall still needs to go up in the surgery room.

Construction crews are currently working on the aquarium, and like many residents here in Pinellas County, a lot of animals are still displaced.

“We still have none of our aquarium animals back yet, and we still have our two sandhill cranes that are off campus," Arndt said. "Because of that, all of our raptor residents were off campus for about six weeks until we could get everything fixed up for them."

Arndt said the animals' absence has been the hardest part — because the birds and animals are like family, and in her 15 years in Pinellas County, she’s never seen storms cause this much damage. But Arndt said she has witnessed just how strong Mother Nature can be nearly every day.

“It’s incredible, really, how strong Mother Nature is," she said. "I mean, I see it every day working with these birds, how incredible life persists. But how strong Mother Nature can be, it was really an eye opening experience."