Firefighter lays foundation for renovation at SOS

The hospital floors at Save our Seabirds were once layers of peeling linoleum held together with duct tape.

But thanks to the help of some Parrotheads and a Sarasota firefighter, the floors are the latest piece of the renovation puzzle at the nonprofit organization.

David Pilston, chief executive officer of Save Our Seabirds Wild Bird Learning and Rehabilitation Center in Sarasota, said the organization has been reviving the facility since the SOS operation moved from Wimauma to the City Island property in 2008.

“We’ve been making steady progress in repairing and expanding the facilities since we moved back here six years ago,” he said. “So, after we received some grant money from the Sarasota Parrothead Club, we had the funds to purchase materials for the floor, we just needed someone to do it.”

So, with help from the area’s Jimmy Buffett fans (Parrotheads), the nonprofit was able to install a more practical, sanitary floor for the hospital.

“In early August, I put out an advisement on HomeAdvisor.com looking for someone to help with the installation,” Pilston said. “And within five minutes I had a reply from our guy.”

Their guy: Sarasota firefighter and tile-setter Tom Didiego.

Didiego’s company, Gulf Shore Tile in Sarasota, was able to install the new floor for a low price the nonprofit could afford.

“As a firefighter, I’m in the area all the time making calls,” Didiego said. “So it’s good to be able to help a place with an immediate need in my other line of work, as well.”

And, as a fellow bird-lover, Pilston said Didiego was a perfect fit.

“I got to help feed a mourning dove earlier,” Didiego said as he laid tile in the hospital. “This has been an amazing experience.”

Bird rescues began at the City Island location in 1981, when Dale Shields, aka “The Pelican Man,” established the sanctuary. 

After Shields died in 2003, the rescue center continued to rehabilitate wildlife but eventually closed in 2006 due to a lack of funding. Since its move, SOS has repaired and expanded the facilities, added educational programs and improved the standards of bird care. There are nearly 150 birds living full time at the facility, which is open every day.

Didiego started setting tile after he graduated high school 27 years ago. Shortly after, he began work as a volunteer firefighter in his home state of New Jersey.

When he moved to the area in 1998, he once again began to pursue his dual professions, and after volunteering for Sarasota County for two years, he became a full-time firefighter with the county and has been with the department for 14 years.

He tiled a total of three rooms at the facility; it took him less than two weeks to complete the project. As soon as Didiego finished a room, the birds and equipment were almost immediately moved back in to the room.

Save Our Seabirds takes about 2,500 birdcalls a year, and its goal is to rehabilitate and release as many birds as possible. And for the ones they are unable to release, they are given permanent homes at the facility

There are nearly 150 birds living full-time at the facility, which is open every day.