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.
