Save The Harbor Extends the Summer With 3 Free Trips To Peddocks Island For Local Youth And Community Groups

With a new visitor center, miles of walking trails, sandy beaches and a historic fort
and chapel to explore, Peddocks Island is a great place to spend a summer day with
Save the Harbor/Save the Bay

Save the Harbor/Save the Bay will extend the summer season and add 3 free trips to Peddocks Island in the Boston Harbor Islands National Park for youth and community groups during the last week of August as part of their free All Access Boston Harbor program for area youth, teens and families. If your organization would like to join them on August 27, 28, or 29, email your group size, preferred date and contact information to: info@savetheharbor.org

Peddocks Island, which opened to the public last year, is the newest destination in the Boston Harbor Islands National Park. On the island participants can explore the new visitor center and the remains of Fort Andrew, walk the trails around the island, see historic summer cottages and fish shacks from the early 20th century, fish for striped bass and flounder off the dock, or play a round of Frisbee Golf on the Boston Harbor Islands only Frisbee Golf course! 

Take a hike, enjoy the beach, explore the island or even play a
round of Frisbee Golf on Peddocks Island with Save the Harbor/Save the Bay

So far this summer Save the Harbor’s free island excursions have connected a record number youth and teens from area community organizations and youth groups to Georges Island and Spectacle Island. By summer’s end the group expects to share the Boston Harbor Islands with more than 6,500 young people from groups from every neighborhood in the city of Boston and many other cities and towns across the region including Lynn, Revere, Everett, Chelsea, and Quincy.

 “We are proud to say that Save the Harbor / Save the Bay has become the “Boston Harbor Connection” for a generation of young people” said Save the Harbor President, Patricia Foley. “Thanks to the generosity of our donors, this year we will be able to extend the summer season, visit a new island and share the harbor with even more youth and teens.”

Since 2002, Save the Harbor’s free youth environmental education programs have connected more than 75,000 youth and teens to Boston Harbor, the Boston Harbor Islands and the region’s public beaches from Nahant to Nantasket. Though many of the participants return year after year, for others these trips mark their first time on Boston Harbor and sometimes their first time on a boat.

All Access Boston Harbor starts at Boston’s Bank of America Pavilion, where children learn about Boston Harbor, the harbor islands and the marine environment before embarking on the Provincetown II for a day of recreation, education, and exploration to Georges Island, Spectacle Island and this summer to Peddock’s Island in the Boston Harbor Islands National Park.

This summer Save the Harbor/Save the Bay will host 24 free trips
to the Boston Harbor Islands for thousands of local youth and teens
 including this group from Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Massachusetts.

"These island adventures are a wonderful way for young people to learn about Boston Harbor's unique history and our marine environment," said Bruce Berman, Director of Strategy, Communications and Programs for Save the Harbor/Save the Bay. "We are glad to add these three trips to Peddocks Island to the 21 trips we have already scheduled to Georges and Spectacle this summer. They should be tons of fun."

In addition to their All Access Boston Harbor island excursions, Save the Harbor also offers their free Boston Harbor Explorers program at the Courageous Sailing Center in Charlestown, the Piers Park Sailing Center in East Boston, the McDonough Sailing Center in South Boston, Community Boating on the Charles River, Blacks Creek Sailing Center in Quincy, the Boston Children’s Museum and Camp Harbor View. To help lead and manage these free programs, Save the Harbor / Save the Bay employs a summer youth environmental education program staff of 32, including six teachers, college students and 18 urban teens from area high schools.

Save the Harbor’s youth environmental education programs are made possible with Leadership Grants from Bay State Cruise Company, Distrigas/GDF SUEZ, The P.I. Garden Fund, The Coca-Cola Foundation, The Ludeke Foundation, and Yawkey Foundation II.

Save the Harbor is grateful for Partnership Grants from The Andus Baker & Rowen Murphy Family Fund, Forrest Berkley and Marcie Tyre Berkley, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Jay Cashman Inc., The Chiofaro Company, Circle Furniture, The Dolphin Trust, Fan Pier, a development of the Fallon Company, John Hancock Financial Services, Inc., HYM Investment Group, Lee Kennedy Company, Inc., Massachusetts Bay Lines, Massachusetts Port Authority, Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, National Grid Foundation, P&G Gillette, William E. and Bertha E. Schrafft Charitable Trust, and The Clinton H. and Wilma T. Shattuck Charitable Trust.

Save the Harbor also appreciates funding support from Arabella Insurance Group Charitable Foundation, Inc., Bank of America Pavilion, Boston Centers for Youth Families, Breckinridge Capital Advisors, Carnival Foundation, Department of Conservation and Recreation, Lovett-Woodsum Family Charitable Foundation, Inc., The Paul & Phyllis Fireman Charitable Foundation, BOMA, Boston Bruins Foundation, Clean Harbors Environmental Services, Community-Suffolk Inc., DeMarco Produce, Thomas & Lucinda Foley, Goulston & Storrs, Matthew J. & Gilda F. Strazzula Foundation, Mobile Beacon, Reebok Foundation, South Boston Community Development Foundation, Sovereign Bank Foundation, Stuart Vidockler and Lynda Clare and hundreds of individual donors.

To find out more about Save the Harbor/Save the Bay's All Access Boston Harbor trips, visit their website at http://www.savetheharbor.org, their youth blog, “Sea, Sand and Sky”

at http://www.blog.savetheharbor.org, and their Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/savetheharbor.