Mass Bay Outfall Monitoring Conference

On Tuesday, November 13 Save the Harbor/Save the Bay and the Outfall Monitoring Science Advisory Panel (OMSAP), the Public Interest Advisory Committee (PIAC), Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and MIT Sea Grant College Program hosted a conference: 2300 Days at Sea: Monitoring the Impacts of the Massachusetts Bay Outfall.  

This conference, which was chaired by Dr. Judy Pederson of MIT, brought together scientists, advocates, policy makers, academics, and citizens to review nearly 30 years of ambient monitoring at the Massachusetts Bay outfall pipe and begin to discuss what a future monitoring program should look like.

At the conference Dr. Betsy Reilly Director of Environmental Quality, Water and Wastewater at the MWRA gave an update on the 33 questions included in the original monitoring plan and the results to date. Dr. Mark Smith from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection spoke about emerging contaminants. Dr. Juliet Simpson from the MIT Sea Grant College Program spoke about climate change and the impacts on the ocean. Dr. Michael Connor, former Director of the Environmental Quality Department at the MWRA and current General Manager of the East Bay Dischargers Authority in San Fransisco, gave the keynote address at the conference on best practices in regional monitoring programs.

Conference attendees dived into each of these topics in breakout groups, discussing what questions have been asked and answered through monitoring to date, how the warmer, deeper, more stormy ocean of the future will impact what monitoring is needed, and how to address concerns regarding emerging contaminants including micro-plastics and pharmaceuticals.

In the coming weeks, OMSAP and PIAC will conduct a careful review the information we gathered on Tuesday and release a conference report with specific recommendations that will continue to ensure that the improvements to Boston Harbor do not come at the expense of Mass Bay or Cape Cod.

You can find out more about the conference at http://blog.savetheharbor.org/2018/10/mass-bay-outfall-monitoring-conference.html


If you would like a copy of the conference report when it is released, please email patton@savetheharbor.org

Metropolitan Beaches Commission Plans 9 Public Hearings In 2019

After a winter of wicked strong storms that caused erosion and other damages to beaches up and down the coast, the Metropolitan Beaches Commission held a hearing at the State House to hear from DCR about plans for the summer. This hearing also featured testimony from Mayor Brian Arrigo of Revere and Mayor Thomas Koch of Quincy. Commissioner Roy gave updates on the storm clean up, the metro beaches budget for the summer, the lifeguard and other staffing plans, as well as events planned for the 125th anniversary celebration of DCR. You can read our full recap of this hearing here.

Then in August, the MBC kicked off its latest round of public hearings with one in Quincy, home to DCR’s Wollaston Beach. About 50 residents attended the hearing and shared their thoughts, concerns, and ideas regarding capital improvement, events and programs, connections to the beach, amenities, and other needs and opportunities with the Commission. You can read the full meeting minutes for the hearing in Quincy here.

These listening sessions will continue in the winter and spring from Nahant to Nantasket. The MBC is called to report regularly on the state of the metro beaches, as well as to make recommendations for improvements and management best practices. The MBC will be releasing its latest report in summer 2019. The public hearings that are scheduled are a crucial part of that report. The list of dates for these 2019 hearings are below, with the community locations still in the process of being determined. Please check back or follow us on Facebook to stay updated on the meetings happening in your community, and/or regarding your favorite beach! 

• Tuesday March 5th 6:00-8:00pm - Hull @ Nantasket Beach Resort
• Tuesday March 19th 6:00-8:00pm - Lynn and Nahant @ North Shore Community College
• Saturday March 30th 10:00am-12:00pm - Dorchester @ Savin Hill Yacht Club
• Tuesday April 9th 6:00-8:00pm - East Boston @ Orient Heights Yacht Club
• Tuesday April 30th 6:00-8:00pm - Revere @ Jack Satter House
• Saturday May 4th 10:00am-12:00pm - South Boston
• Tuesday May 14th 6:00-8:00pm – Winthrop
• Saturday, May 18th 10:00am-12:00pm - Regional Hearing, “Did we get it right?” at UMass Harbor Campus
• Tuesday June 4th 10:00-12:00 - Public Hearing and Report Release at the State House

The Metropolitan Beaches Commission was created in 2006 by the Massachusetts Legislature to take an in-depth look at the Boston metropolitan region's 15 public beaches in Nahant, Lynn, Revere, Winthrop, East Boston, South Boston, Dorchester, Quincy, and Hull which are managed by the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR).

About the MBC

The Metropolitan Beaches Commission is comprised of elected officials and community, civic, nonprofit, and business leaders from Boston and the metropolitan region's waterfront neighborhoods and beachfront communities. Its work is facilitated by Save the Harbor/Save the Bay, which has served as lead consultant to the Commission since its inception.

In 2013, the Commission reconvened to examine the impacts of the reforms and recommendations made in its first report and issue additional findings and recommendations to better leverage these resources for residents in the future. The Metropolitan Beaches Commission was made permanent in 2015. Each year the Commission holds public hearings at the State House and in waterfront neighborhoods and beachfront communities from Nahant to Nantasket, and issues an annual report of its findings and recommendations to the Legislature and to DCR.

To read more about the MBC, including a list of Commissioners and copies of previous reports, visit www.savetheharbor.org/MBC

If you have questions, comments, or concerns that you would like to bring to the MBC's attention, please email MBC@savetheharbor.org, call Save the Harbor at 617-451-2860, or contact your State Representative or State Senator's office.

Share the Harbor cruises help meet demand for access to Harbor Islands

In 2018 Save the Harbor/Save the Bay hosted 11 free "Share the Harbor" cruises to Spectacle Island, Georges Island and Boston Light on Bay State Cruise Company's Provincetown II, which truly shared the harbor with residents from every neighborhood in the City of Boston and with the region's residents as well.

Nearly 14,000 people signed up for these free trips, including Marine Mammal Safaris in the spring, summer cruises to Georges and Spectacle Island,  evening trips to Boston Light, and Treasures of Spectacle Island excursions in the fall.

 

The Share the Harbor season began with Save the Harbor's Marine Mammal Safaris, 90-minute guided inner harbor tours in search of harbor seals, porpoises, and other marine life. Summer kicked off with an evening cruise to Boston Light, home of the first lighthouse in America. July and August featured several trips to both Spectacle Island and Georges Island, home to historic Fort Warren. On these trips Save the Harbor's Youth Environmental Education Program staff provided free activities for visitors.

In the fall we traveled once again to Boston Light, this time with Keeper of the Light Sally Snowman on board to talk about the role and history of the island. Two final cruises to Spectacle Island capped the fall season, including a "Treasures of Spectacle Island" trip as well as a post-season trip in partnership with Boston Harbor Now, the National Park Service, and the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation. This "Fall Frolic" allowed the public to visit after the park had closed for the season, and featured fishing and crabbing, storytelling, kite flying, tours of the island, a live jazz band, and a Junior Ranger swearing in ceremony!

“We are delighted with how the Share the Harbor initiative has been received,” said Chris Mancini, Vice President of Programs and Operations at Save the Harbor/Save the Bay. “With so much to do and see out on the Harbor we were pleased to be able to share those opportunities with thousands of people this year.”

Save the Harbor would like to thank all our foundation funding partners, corporate sponsors, and the more than 1,000 individual donors who help make our work possible. We would also like to thank our partners at Bay State Cruise Company, The National Park Service, The Department of Conservation and Recreation, and Boston Harbor Now.

Save the Harbor’s “Share the Harbor” cruises are funded in part by Mass Humanities, which receives support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and is an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

A Message From Our President

The year ahead marks an important transition for me personally, as I recently announced my intention to retire as President in April. 2019 is also an important year for Save the Harbor/Save the Bay as we work to strengthen our free programs and advance our ambitious advocacy agenda.

You can be certain that our Chairman Joe Newman, the Board of Directors, our Director of Strategy & Communications Bruce Berman and the staff will keep our commitment to our free programs and policy goals. Working together, we have transformed Boston Harbor from a national disgrace into a source of educational, recreational and economic opportunity and civic pride for the nearly two million people who live just a short ride or drive to the waterfront, the harbor, the islands and the region’s public beaches.

Though there is still more work to do to and new challenges ahead, with your sustained support we have made Boston Harbor home to some of the cleanest urban beaches in the nation, and our spectacular waterfront and the harbor islands have become destinations for the region’s residents and visitors alike. I hope you will make a contribution today at www.savetheharbor.org/contribution as we prepare to begin the next important phase of our work.

I am certain that the future is bright for Boston Harbor and Save the Harbor/Save the Bay. With your support, Save the Harbor will continue to be the region’s leading voice for clean water, advocating for modest but important investments in 2019 that protect our region’s $5 billion public investment in the Boston Harbor cleanup and provide free events and programs that connect nearly 2 million residents annually with Boston Harbor, the waterfront, the Boston Harbor Islands and our region’s public beaches.

With your continued support, Save the Harbor will also continue to be the Boston Harbor Connection with four seasons of free programs that Share the Harbor with underserved young people and low-income families.

• Since 2002, our free Youth Environmental Education Programs, which include All Access Boston Harbor and the Boston Harbor Explorers, have connected nearly 250,000 underserved young people from 124 organizations in 40 communities to the harbor we have helped to restore and protect. Additionally more than 14,000 people signed up for our new free Share The Harbor cruises in 2018.
  
• Since 2008, our free Better Beaches Program partnership with DCR has invested more than $4 million dollars to support hundreds of free events and program in 9 waterfront neighborhoods and beachfront communities from Nahant to Nantasket since we began it in 2008, bringing more than 1 million visitors back to our beaches in 2018.

With your continued support, our free events and programs will continue to create a generation of stewards who understand that Boston Harbor, the islands and our public beaches belong to them and their communities, bringing the waterfront and the harbor to the center of civic life in our capital city.

I learned to swim at L Street Beach in South Boston many decades ago, where I also learned to love our city and the sea. Today, I still love Boston and our spectacular harbor, and I know you do too.

When I first joined Save the Harbor nearly 20 years ago, it was easy for me to embrace the mission: to restore, protect, connect and share Boston Harbor with Bostonians from every neighborhood and the region’s underserved kids and families.

As President, it has been my privilege to work with an exceptional mix of people, policy makers, communities, companies, funders and other organizations to strengthen our city and improve the quality of life for all our residents.

Since Save the Harbor was founded in 1986, we have given Boston Harbor back to the people.

As I prepare to leave this terrific and challenging position, I hope that you will take a moment to make a contribution of $25, $50, $100, $250 or whatever you can afford to give to support our work to restore, protect, connect, and share Boston Harbor with the region's underserved kids and low-income families.

On behalf of Joe Newman, the Board of Directors, Bruce and myself, I am personally grateful for your belief in our mission and for your continued support for our work. Best of wishes throughout the holiday season.


All the best,
Patricia A. Foley


P.S. You can be confident that your contribution will be invested wisely. Save the Harbor invests 80 cents of every dollar you donate to support free events and programs that help restore, protect, connect and share Boston Harbor, the waterfront, the harbor islands and the region’s public beaches from Nahant to Nantasket. It is easy to make your contribution online today at our website at www.savetheharbor.org/contribution

Save the Harbor Brings "Life's A Beach" to Region's Metro Beaches

This summer Save the Harbor/Save the Bay, the Department of Conservation and Recreation and the Boston Circus Guild brought 8 “Life’s a Beach” festivals to the regions waterfront neighborhoods and beachfront communities from Nahant to Nantasket as part of our Better Beaches Program.

This year's festivals included aerialists, acrobats, stilt-walkers and jugglers from the Boston Circus Guld, as well as our crew of performing pirates who shared songs and stories of the sea.

Events also featured art on the shore with Artist-in-Residence Robyn Reed, who's interactive art installation Changing Course helps to educate community members about plastic marine pollution and the importance of recycling. This project transforms found plastic water bottles into a school of fish. At Life's a Beach events this summer children and families created and contributed their own "fish" to the piece.

This summer also saw the return of internationally renowned artist Andres Amador who creates huge works of art in the intertidal zone of beaches. These interactive, collaborative, and visually stunning pieces are part of Amador's Earthscape Art series, inspired by his study of calligraphy, ancient architecture, and science of all disciplines. The artwork on beaches can span over 100,000 feet, achievable only during low tide when the beach is revealed. Andres visited Nantasket Beach, Constitution Beach, and Revere Beach to create this art.

This year's "Life's a Beach" festivals also included our Youth Environmental Education Program staff who brought fish printing and touch tanks to teach kids and families about the creatures who live in Boston Harbor and Mass Bay.

In 2018, nearly 10,000 people took part in these free Life's a Beach Festivals, proving that life can really be a beach!

Save the Harbor would like to thank the Department of Conservation and Recreation and our Better Beaches Program sponsors, Harpoon Brewery, JetBlue, and the Boston Circus Guild, and the hundreds of participants and donors to the Harpoon Shamrock Splash, which has raised more than $250,000 to support free beach events since it began in 2011.

We would also like to thank our policy and program partners at The Boston Foundation, the Richard Saltonstall Charitable Foundation, P&G Gillette, National Grid, Comcast, Beacon Capital Partners, New England Picture, Mix 104.1, Boston Centers for Youth & Families, The YMCA of Greater Boston, The Daily Catch Seaport, Baja Taco Truck, and the Blue Sky Collaborative for their support.
See you all on the beach!

Save the Harbor would like to thank our program and policy partners and event sponsors: the Department of Conservation & Recreation, Harpoon Brewery, JetBlue, The Boston Foundation, the Richard Saltonstall Charitable Foundation, P&G Gillette, National Grid, Comcast, Beacon Capital Partners, New England Picture, Mix 104.1, Boston Centers for Youth & Families, The YMCA of Greater Boston, The Daily Catch Seaport, Baja Taco Truck, and the Blue Sky Collaborative for their support.

Another great year of Better Beaches programs from Nahant to Nantasket!

This year Save the Harbor's Better Beaches Program partnership with the Department of Conservation and Recreation brought more than one million people to 163 free events and programs on the region’s public beaches from Nahant to Nantasket.

Save the Harbor launched the Better Beaches Program in 2008 to help local communities and beaches friends groups create and sustain free events and activities on the region’s public beaches from Nahant to Nantasket, as recommended by the Metropolitan Beaches Commission, which we help lead and manage for the Legislature.

Over the course of more than a decade, our community partners in Nahant, Lynn, Revere, Winthrop, East Boston, South Boston, Dorchester, Quincy and Hull have leveraged $886,668 in small grants received from Save the Harbor/Save the Bay and the Department of Conservation and Recreation with $3,281,200 in organizational support from Save the Harbor and cash and in-kind contributions from local government and small businesses for a total investment of $4,106,904 in 647 free events and programs for the region’s residents and visitors alike.

This year, Save the Harbor awarded $202,732 in direct grants from the funds we received from DCR and raised at the Harpoon Shamrock Splash to support free events and programs hosted by 36 organizations in nine beachfront communities and waterfront neighborhood.

In turn, our community partners leveraged our funds to support 163 free concerts, beach festivals, kayaking and sailing camps and lessons, movie nights on the beach, story hours, bicycle rides to the beach, and sand sculpting competitions that brought over one million people to our region’s public beaches in 2018.

Save the Harbor and DCR brought “Life’s a Beach” festival programming to 8 events in the summer and fall. This programming enriched events hosted by Better Beaches grantees by bringing acrobats, aerialists, jugglers, and stiltwalkers from the Boston Circus Guild, storytelling pirates, art on the shore with Artist-in-Residence Robyn Reed as well as visiting artist Andres Amador, and enrichment from our Youth Environmental Education Program staff.

We have been delighted to watch over the last decade as these free programs have become an important part of the community calendar, and a meaningful experience for the communities we serve. We have witnessed countless people, both youth and adults, make the first connection to the water that creates the environmental stewards we need to help protect the public’s $5 billion investment in the Boston Harbor clean-up.

The Better Beaches Program is a powerful way to share the benefits of the Boston Harbor cleanup with kids and families from all of Boston’s neighborhoods and with the nearly 2 million regional residents who live within a short ride or drive to the beach.

Planning for the 2019 season is already underway, and we are pleased to report that the Legislature and the Baker-Polito Administration included funds to support the program in the budget again this year.

Save the Harbor would like to thank the Department of Conservation and Recreation and our Better Beaches Program sponsors, Harpoon Brewery, JetBlue, and the Boston Circus Guild, and the hundreds of participants and donors to the Harpoon Shamrock Splash, which has raised more than $250,000 to support free beach events since it began in 2011.

We would also like to thank our policy and program partners at The Boston Foundation, the Richard Saltonstall Charitable Foundation, P&G Gillette, National Grid, Comcast, Beacon Capital Partners, New England Picture, Mix 104.1, Boston Centers for Youth & Families, The YMCA of Greater Boston, The Daily Catch Seaport, Baja Taco Truck, and the Blue Sky Collaborative for their support.

All of us at Save the Harbor/Save the Bay hope you will join us at the Harpoon Shamrock Splash in March at M Street Beach at the BCYF Curley Community Center. We intend to crush last year’s record and raise more than $55,000 for free beach events and programs in 2019 at the event. Visit www.shamrocksplash.org for more information.

See you on the beach!

Save the Harbor would like to thank our program and policy partners and event sponsors: the Department of Conservation & Recreation, Harpoon Brewery, JetBlue, The Boston Foundation, the Richard Saltonstall Charitable Foundation, P&G Gillette, National Grid, Comcast, Beacon Capital Partners, New England Picture, Mix 104.1, Boston Centers for Youth & Families, The YMCA of Greater Boston, The Daily Catch Seaport, Baja Taco Truck, and the Blue Sky Collaborative for their support.

A Literary "Cruise" through the Golden Age of American Piracy

After a rewarding spring, summer and fall of Sharing the Harbor with free cruises to the Harbor Islands, Marine Mammal Safaris and tours of Boston Light, Save the Harbor embarked on the winter phase of our Share the Harbor initiative. Save the Harbor Humanities Scholar Eric Jay Dolin captivated audiences with two presentations on his newly released book, Black Flags, Blue Waters: The Epic History of America's Most Notorious Pirates.

The November 13 event was hosted by Save the Harbor, the Hull Lifesaving Museum, and the Hull Public Library.

On November 28, The Friends of Belle Isle Marsh and the Friends of Winthrop Beach hosted a second pirate talk at the Winthrop Public Library.

Instead of boarding a boat for a trip into the Harbor itself, Eric took listeners on a "literary cruise" through the Golden Age of American Piracy, which dispelled many of the myths of pirates as jolly rapscallions that we are familiar with from literature and film. It's a tale that any of our past Share the Harbor participants should be familiar with from our All Hands on Deck curriculum - while the stories of young sailors and mariners from the Age of Sail can often be engaging and even inspiring pirates themselves don't actually make the best role models. However, today, we see many opportunities available to young people on the Boston Harbor.

Save the Harbor "Pirates in Residence" including Vice President of Operations and Programs Chris Mancini, Junior Program Assistants Jahari Crosby-Mendes, Albert Deblas, and Ashley Pena introduced the crowds to a brief history of the Boston Harbor Cleanup, emphasizing that this great environmental success story was only possible with many people working to "Haul Away Together" to accomplish a monumental task. To drive home the point, the pirate staff led everyone in a rousing (and quickly learned) rendition of "Haul Away Joe", a traditional sea chantey used by sailors as they worked together to raise the heavy sails of their Tall Ships during the Age of Sail.

After the sea shanty, Eric took the stage, where he held the crowd in thrall with tales of renowned pirates like Mary Read, Blackbeard, and the brutal Ned Lowe, who was ultimately captured and put on trial right here in Boston. He explained the way he chose the topics for each of his books, enticed by the possibility of learning more about subjects that are popular, but rarely explored in such a detailed and fact finding way. Dolin describe the many motivations behind plundering ships, and why folks might turn to the pirate life.

While many of us know about pirates through books such as Treasure Island and movies like Pirates of the Caribbean, the tales spun by popular culture romanticizes their lives to attract audiences. Dolin breaks down these depictions to what is historically true and untrue. For example, who knew that walking the plank was not a widely used method of getting rid of prisoners?

Save the Harbor would like to thank all our foundation funding partners, corporate sponsors, and the more than 1,000 individual donors who help make our work possible. We would also like to thank our partners at the Hull Lifesaving Museum and Hull Library, Eric Jay Dolin, and our supporters at Mass Humanities for helping start and support the Share the Harbor Initiative. Save the Harbor’s “Share the Harbor” Initiative is funded in part by Mass Humanities, which receives support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and is an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Mass Bay Outfall Monitoring Conference November 13th

On Tuesday, November 13 Save the Harbor/Save the Bay and the Outfall Monitoring Science Advisory Panel (OMSAP), the Public Interest Advisory Committee (PIAC), Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and MIT Sea Grant College Program are hosting a conference: 2300 Days at Sea: Monitoring the Impacts of the Massachusetts Bay Outfall. 

This conference will focus on the last 30 years of data from monitoring the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority's marine outfall, which discharges from its Deer Island facility 9.5 miles into Massachusetts Bay. There will also be interactive breakout sessions to discuss questions and any concerns that may warrant additional study and monitoring.

The conference, which is free and open to the public, will take place on Tuesday November 13th at Atlantic Wharf in Boston. To register, please use the form here: https://tinyurl.com/Nov-13-OMSAP-RSVP.

At Save the Harbor/Save the Bay we believe that the MWRA's monitoring has been critical to our understanding of the impacts of the outfall on Mass Bay and the marine environment.

When we were founded in 1986, we promised the public that the cleanup of Boston Harbor would not come at the expense of Mass Bay or Cape Cod Bay. Based on our review of the data it is clear that many of the impacts that the public was concerned about at that time have not materialized.

After nearly 30 years of study, we believe that some of the original questions the monitoring was designed to address have been asked and answered, while others continue to be important.

However, the ocean is getting warmer, deeper and more stormy, which has already begun to have impacts on the timing, duration and extent of algae blooms, and on the range of species of critical ecological and economic concern including lobsters, flounder, black sea bass and marine mammals.

We also believe there are emerging issues, such as the impacts of pharmaceuticals, micro beads, plastics, estrogen imitators and endocrine disruptors on marine life and human health, which merit additional monitoring and study.

Your input at this conference will serve as the new basis for OMSAP’s important research in the years to come.

We hope that you will attend to learn about the outfall and its effects on the marine environment. We also hope that you will share your concerns and thoughts about how we can refine and improve the monitoring program going forward.

More details are below, but if you have any questions, email Andrea Patton at patton@savetheharbor.org or Dr. Judith Pederson at jpederso@mit.edu

To register for the conference, please use the form here: https://tinyurl.com/Nov-13-OMSAP-RSVP.

What: OMSAP Conference, 2300 Days at Sea: Monitoring the Impacts of the Massachusetts Bay Outfall
When: Tuesday November 13th, 8:00am-3:15pm. Enjoy a free harbor cruise after the conference!
Where: Fort Point Channel Conference Room, Atlantic Wharf, 280 Congress St. Boston, MA 02210

Cross Post: Spotlight on a Charity We Love

This post was first published on Circle Furniture's blog at blog.circlefurniture.com

Save the Harbor/Save the Bay has partnered with, and been supported by, Circle Furniture since 1996. This month they highlighted our work together on their blog! We are incredibly grateful for their support, and have enjoyed our partnership over the last two decades.

Spotlight on a Charity We Love: Save the Harbor/Save the Bay

02 NOV 2018

We’re passionate about supporting the local community, both by partnering with local businesses and supporting local charities in any way we can. Today we’re putting a spotlight on an organization we’ve been partnered with for over 20 years.

Save the Harbor/Save the Bay was founded in 1986. We’ve been working with them since 1996, and have since formed a long-lasting and mutually rewarding relationship.

The Circle family feels strongly about restoring and protecting the Boston harbor, and we’re proud to be aligned with an organization that cares equally about the beautiful city we live in.

Who are they? 

We met with Bruce Berman, director of Strategy and Communications, to talk about our partnership with them and what the charity has accomplished.

He described, “Save the Harbor was founded with a clear mission: to restore, protect, and share Boston’s degraded harbor. That’s what we’ve done and we’re really proud of it.”

Save the Harbor has built a network of 5,000 members and supporters who share their commitment to clean water in the Boston community. “We’re proud to be the leading voice for clean water and continued investment in the marine environment.”

What do they do? 

Through numerous initiatives and programs, they’ve transformed Boston Harbor to one of the cleanest urban beaches in the nation. Clean water is at the core of their mission and the changes they’ve made are immeasurable.

How have they done this? Bruce is loyal to the idea that “the best way to save the harbor is to share it with the public.”

They’ve brought together thousands in honor of protecting the harbor, and 80% of the funds that they raise go towards free events and programs that serve the 1.9 million people that live around the harbor, in particular, underserved children and families.

Involvement in the communityAt the forefront of their organization are the youth environmental education programs which, in 2018, connected 30,000 youth and teens on the beaches and harbor islands of Boston. They had a dream that the Harbor would be a “laboratory for learning and a recreational destination.”

This is a dream they’ve seen come to fruition in many ways, including in their Better Beaches Program. Through this program they’ve hosted 150 free events on the regions public beaches; from family reading nights on the beach to performing pirates, circuses, and the Life’s a Beach Festival.

Bruce explained, “One of the reasons we’re so successful is that we’re really connected to the communities we serve and we turn to them for help and support.”

Our partnership 

We’ve had a long-term personal relationship with Save the Harbor that’s built around the desire to care for the community we live in.

“I’ve been with Save the Harbor since ’96 and the Circle family has been a supporter since then. After meeting them, it quickly became clear that they shared our core values and truly care about the community and the ocean,” Bruce stated.

We participate in any way we can to the events and programs they host. In the past, we’ve sponsored and volunteered on fishing trips that bring kids from the city out on the water, sometimes for their first time. We’ve also been involved in sponsoring and planning their annual event, Destination Harbor.

Harold Tubman described, “When I was growing up in Boston you couldn’t swim in the harbor, but through the efforts of Save the Harbor, the Boston harbor and beaches are now clean and accessible to everyone.”

Our efforts to be sustainable and support the local community perfectly align with Save the Harbor and we’re proud to have been a part of the organization for over 20 years.

Get involved
There are so many ways to get involved with Save the Harbor. First and most simply, keep the harbor and bay of Boston clean by keeping oil and trash out of the water.

You can also join them at their annual plunge and pledge fundraiser in March, the Harpoon Shamrock Splash. This event raises money to support free events and programs on the region’s public beaches.

Finally, visit their website and follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to learn more about the free events they run. You can even join them on a Save the Harbor cruise. Bruce says, “You’ll fall in love with the harbor and there is no shortage of opportunities to help.”

By Julia Maiman

Julia is a writer, blogger, and believer in the smell of old books. She has been crafting stories since she could put pen to paper. She is also a lover of dogs, traveling, and Led Zeppelin.