Hello all,
You're invited to our 2nd annual folk festival, featuring 13 acts.
Musicians playing music from Italy, Greece, Cambodia, Haiti, Russia, Span. America.
Brazilian capoiera, and Japanese calligraphy, story-telling, dancing lessons.
This Saturday, July 3 from 2-7 PM at Heritage State Park, off the Lynnway.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Monday, June 21, 2010
EAST BOSTON YMCA SUMMER KICK-OFF
BEACH DAY 2010
East Boston YMCA packed Constitution Beach on Bunker Hill Day for a fun-filled Summer Kick-off celebration. The event featured free lunch, games, information tables and plenty of splashing around on the water's edge.
Jen from Save the Harbor brought along a touch tank that was a big hit with all the kids - especially the lobster, razor clam and other critters.
The event gave over 400 kids from East Boston and their parents a great way to spend the day off from school and an opportunity to connect with the East Boston YMCA and their summer free lunch program.We look forward to more great family events at Constitution Beach later in the summer, including a movie night and campfire - all thanks to the folks at East Boston YMCA.
Check back here for more on events throughout the summer!
Monday, June 14, 2010
More good news for the beaches of Boston!
For the third year running Save the Harbor/Save the Bay has given valuable assets to fund events around the Boston beaches area.
At a press conference on the Boston Fish Pier on Saturday, June 12th, the non-profit organization Save the Harbor / Save the Bay awarded $30,500 in grants to 11 groups to support 35 free public events in nine Boston Harbor region beachfront communities from Nahant to Nantasket.
In addition, Save the Harbor announced that in the fall they will introduce the “Best of the Beaches” awards of up to $2,000 to organizations that deliver outstanding events on our region’s public beaches in Lynn, Nahant, Revere, Winthrop, East Boston, South Boston, Dorchester, Quincy and Hull this summer.
This year’s "Better Beaches" events will include beachfront concert series, kite festivals, sand sculpting competitions, beachside art shows, environmental education programs, family fun nights and reading programs, volleyball tournaments and several beach festivals.
The program is made possible by a $25,000 grant from the Boston Foundation, $25,000 of in-kind support from the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), and the financial support of Save the Harbor’s corporate partners at National Grid, Comcast Massachusetts, and JetBlue Airways.
"I love our beaches. I love all these groups and Save the Harbor/Save the Bay for making them work even better," said State Representative Kathi-Anne Reinstein who co-chairs Metropolitan Beaches Commission.
“There is so much we can do to make environmental initiatives a priority,” said Ronda Ivy-McLeod, manager of regional marketing for JetBlue Airways. “We are taking action by supporting Save the Harbor / Save the Bay and their local partners, and invite the community to join us. Every one of us, whether an individual or a corporation, one contribution at a time, can do much to help protect our environment and strengthen our communities.”
In addition to the grants, local Friends groups will raise an additional $160,000 in direct and in-kind support for their events and capacity-building initiatives, resulting in a total investment of more than $190,000 in free events and activities on the region’s public beaches.
“From the start of the Boston Harbor Clean-up it was clear that Boston's restored harbor and renewed waterfront would be an economic engine as well as a major community resource,” said Paul S. Grogan, President and CEO of the Boston Foundation, an early funder of Save the Harbor / Save the Bay. “That vision has been born out by the success of organizations and business in communities across the region that have drawn thousands of local residents to these clean and accessible public beaches.”
With the Better Beaches program in its third year, Save the Harbor called on local beach groups to submit proposals that strengthen their organizations and allow them to sustain beach programming in the longer term. Groups responded with creative revenue-generating ideas for merchandising kites, T-shirts, totes, and hats as well as developing corporate partnerships, membership drives, raffles, fundraising events, marketing and media strategies.
“All these groups share a love for their beaches,” said Patricia Foley, President of Save the Harbor / Save the Bay. "These great programs would simply not be possible without the hard work and enthusiasm of these Friends groups.”
Save the Harbor / Save the Bay introduced the Better Beaches Small Grants Program in 2008 in response to a key finding of Metropolitan Beaches Commission’s report which called for increased programming on the area beaches. In the program’s first two years Save the Harbor / Save the Bay funded events designed to jumpstart public activities and programming on public beaches. Through 2009, the program leveraged a total of over $180,000 investment in free events and programs on the region's public beach.
Be sure to frequent these events and get the most out of the Boston beaches this summer!
At a press conference on the Boston Fish Pier on Saturday, June 12th, the non-profit organization Save the Harbor / Save the Bay awarded $30,500 in grants to 11 groups to support 35 free public events in nine Boston Harbor region beachfront communities from Nahant to Nantasket.
In addition, Save the Harbor announced that in the fall they will introduce the “Best of the Beaches” awards of up to $2,000 to organizations that deliver outstanding events on our region’s public beaches in Lynn, Nahant, Revere, Winthrop, East Boston, South Boston, Dorchester, Quincy and Hull this summer.
This year’s "Better Beaches" events will include beachfront concert series, kite festivals, sand sculpting competitions, beachside art shows, environmental education programs, family fun nights and reading programs, volleyball tournaments and several beach festivals.
The program is made possible by a $25,000 grant from the Boston Foundation, $25,000 of in-kind support from the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), and the financial support of Save the Harbor’s corporate partners at National Grid, Comcast Massachusetts, and JetBlue Airways.
"I love our beaches. I love all these groups and Save the Harbor/Save the Bay for making them work even better," said State Representative Kathi-Anne Reinstein who co-chairs Metropolitan Beaches Commission.
“There is so much we can do to make environmental initiatives a priority,” said Ronda Ivy-McLeod, manager of regional marketing for JetBlue Airways. “We are taking action by supporting Save the Harbor / Save the Bay and their local partners, and invite the community to join us. Every one of us, whether an individual or a corporation, one contribution at a time, can do much to help protect our environment and strengthen our communities.”
In addition to the grants, local Friends groups will raise an additional $160,000 in direct and in-kind support for their events and capacity-building initiatives, resulting in a total investment of more than $190,000 in free events and activities on the region’s public beaches.
“From the start of the Boston Harbor Clean-up it was clear that Boston's restored harbor and renewed waterfront would be an economic engine as well as a major community resource,” said Paul S. Grogan, President and CEO of the Boston Foundation, an early funder of Save the Harbor / Save the Bay. “That vision has been born out by the success of organizations and business in communities across the region that have drawn thousands of local residents to these clean and accessible public beaches.”
With the Better Beaches program in its third year, Save the Harbor called on local beach groups to submit proposals that strengthen their organizations and allow them to sustain beach programming in the longer term. Groups responded with creative revenue-generating ideas for merchandising kites, T-shirts, totes, and hats as well as developing corporate partnerships, membership drives, raffles, fundraising events, marketing and media strategies.
“All these groups share a love for their beaches,” said Patricia Foley, President of Save the Harbor / Save the Bay. "These great programs would simply not be possible without the hard work and enthusiasm of these Friends groups.”
Save the Harbor / Save the Bay introduced the Better Beaches Small Grants Program in 2008 in response to a key finding of Metropolitan Beaches Commission’s report which called for increased programming on the area beaches. In the program’s first two years Save the Harbor / Save the Bay funded events designed to jumpstart public activities and programming on public beaches. Through 2009, the program leveraged a total of over $180,000 investment in free events and programs on the region's public beach.
Be sure to frequent these events and get the most out of the Boston beaches this summer!
Friday, June 11, 2010
Good News From the Beach!
At 10:00 A.M. on Saturday, June 12th, at our office on Boston’s Fish Pier, Save the Harbor / Save the Bay will award $30,500 in "Better Beaches" grants to 11 groups to support 35 free public events in nine beachfront communities from Nahant to Nantasket.
This year’s events include beachfront concert series, kite festivals, sand sculpting competitions, beachside art shows, environmental education programs, family fun nights and beach based reading programs, as well as volleyball tournaments and beach festivals.
In addition, Save the Harbor will announce a new initiative, the “Best of the Beaches” awards, with cash prizes of up to $2,000 to be awarded later this year to organizations that deliver outstanding events on our region’s public beaches in Lynn, Nahant, Revere, Winthrop, East Boston, South Boston, Dorchester, Quincy and Hull this summer.
Save the Harbor / Save the Bay's "Better Beaches" program grew out of the recommendations made by the Metropolitan Beaches Commission in their 2007 report “Beaches We Can Be Proud Of.” It is made possible by a generous grant from the Boston Foundation, in-kind support from the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), and the support of Save the Harbor’s corporate partners at National Grid, Comcast, and Jet Blue Airways.
This year local beaches friends groups will invest an additional $160,000 in direct and in-kind support for their events themselves, resulting in a total investment of more than $190,000 in free events and activities on the region’s public beaches in 2010!
We expect Metropolitan Beaches Commission Co-Chairs Senator Jack Hart and Representative Kathi-Anne Reinstein to attend, as well as other commissioners, elected officials and representatives of our foundation, corporate and beach community partners.
For more information about the "Better Beaches" program or Saturday's announcement, contact Save the Harbor / Save the Bay’s Director of Strategy and Communications Bruce Berman directly on his cell at 617-293-6243.
Wednesday, June 02, 2010
Building on Better Beaches
Patty Foley reflected last spring that “It’s remarkable what people who love their beach and their community can accomplish with just a little bit of help.”
After spending some time working with people who love their beaches, I couldn’t agree more. Most everyone that we work with fell in love with “the beach” (whichever it may have been) early and has given back often.
At Save the Harbor/Save the Bay we love this time of year because people up and down the coast are excited to clean up their beaches and show them off to new visitors – and we get to help.
Thanks to generous contributions from The Boston Foundation, National Grid and Comcast, we anticipate that we will have dozens of fun and free events in every beach community from Nahant to Nantasket, so wherever you call home, there should be an event on a nearby beach.
After spending some time working with people who love their beaches, I couldn’t agree more. Most everyone that we work with fell in love with “the beach” (whichever it may have been) early and has given back often.
Especially now that we have heard the ideas for the summer from our friends groups on our Metropolitan Beaches from Nahant to Nantasket, these words resonate once again.
The Better Beaches project – bringing people back to our beaches – is never-ending and sometimes challenging but it can also be a great deal of fun. This year, with a little bit of encouragement, we are hearing from people from all of our beach communities about how they plan to take their beach stewardship to the next level through media partnerships, advertising, outreach, fundraising, merchandising, and membership initiatives.
Together, in 2010, these friends will create and sell thousands of T-shirts and other items, develop an online store, produce a TV ad, and work hard to bake several other fresh ideas into working models for financial sustainability.
Strengthened by these strategies, we are confident our friends groups will put together an impressive slate of events from
Aside from fulfilling our goal of bringing more people out to the beaches, this year’s series of events will generate a lot of great images and press, stories – and most importantly – memories.
We really hope you are able to make it out to some of this year’s events and buy some kites, totes and T’s. We will use the Better Beaches Blog and our Boston Harbor Facebook Page to keep you posted about beach happenings and events and the great groups that host them.
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