Heal the Bay Blog

Category: More Ways to Give

Thank You Thursday – 1.17.13

01.17.2013 | Heal the Bay

So maybe we’re a little late popping the bubbly on January 17, versus on New Year’s Eve, but we have a lot to celebrate this week!

First, Moët & Chandon and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, along with supporters like you, helped Heal the Bay win $11,000 through Moët & Chandon’s #Toast4aCause at the Golden Globes on Sunday. The champagne company pledged $10,000 to the charity with the most re-tweets by Monday at midnight. Julia – who serves on Heal the Bay’s Board– nominated us, earning us $1000. Then we asked you to help get the word out, and you did it! We won! Thank YOU and thank you Moët & Chandon.

We’ll be able to do a lot of good with that amount of money, which will help support our programs. Again, thank you (and happy birthday!) to Julia, who remains a frequent and constant champion of our cause.

Our Beach Report Card also received significant support this week from LAcarGUY. We thank them for their ongoing commitment to protecting our coastline.

Holiday thank you “leftovers” in 2013 include local businesses Bedhead Pajamas and Earth Scents, for helping us kick off the giving season.

And since we’re still in the NYE spirit, we also thank the Basement Tavern @ The Victorian in Santa Monica for donating the proceeds from their New Year’s bash to Heal the Bay and the California Heritage Museum.

Want to see your name here? You and/or your company can also support Heal the Bay’s work to keep our local waters healthy and clean.

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Things to Do with HtB for MLK Day of Service

01.14.2013 | Heal the Bay

About Us Beach Report Card Malibu / Pacific Palisades Marina del Rey / Playa del Rey Marine Protected Areas More Ways to Give Santa Monica Venice Beach

“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: ‘What are you doing for others?'” –Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Each year on the federal holiday marking Dr. King’s birthday, Americans celebrate his legacy by working together to serve our neighbors and communities, making the third Monday of January more than just a day of sales at the mall, but a national “MLK Day of Service.”

Come keep your community clean, by joining Heal the Bay this MLK Weekend on Saturday in Venice for our first Nothin’ But Sand beach cleanup of 2013. We are striving to go “Zero Waste” at our cleanups, so please bring your own reusable gloves, buckets or bags from home. And, if you didn’t know already, our monthly beach cleanups are perfect “get involved” opportunities for the ENTIRE FAMILY – an introduction to a lifetime of making a difference.

Nothin’ But Sand runs from 10 a.m.-noon, which gives you just enough time to get over to Heal the Bay’s Santa Monica Pier Aquarium to celebrate Underwater Parks Day, 12:30-5 p.m. The annual event recognizes Marine Protected Areas (aka “MPAs”) and the aquatic life they safeguard. Visitors will receive a free canvas tote bag to decorate and have a chance to join various fun activities designed to teach ways to improve the ocean’s health.

With the new year, we encourage you to join Heal the Bay as a member. We are only as effective as the folks who band with us to solve local water quality problems. Help us protect our coastal waters and watersheds and join 12,000 other active members to help fund our education, science and advocacy programs. We’ll keep you up-to-date on work and you’ll enjoy member benefits, such as FREE passes to our Aquarium, Beach Report Card emails and other special offers.

Discover more ways to get involved with Heal the Bay.

The MLK Day of Service is a part of United We Serve, the President’s national call to service initiative. It calls for Americans from all walks of life to work together to provide solutions to our most pressing national problems.

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Teens Team Up with Holocaust Survivors for PSA

01.11.2013 | Heal the Bay

About Us Heal the Bay Videos Malibu / Pacific Palisades Marina del Rey / Playa del Rey More Ways to Give Palos Verdes Peninsula Santa Monica South Bay Venice Beach

Through a powerful collaboration between Holocaust survivors and teen filmmakers, Heal the Bay received a video gift that will definitely keep on giving.

Students produced It’s Not Just One, a public service announcement that vividly depicts the impact of littering on the health of our communities and ocean.

The PSA was created in a “Righteous Conversations Project” workshop held over the summer at Harvard-Westlake school aimed at students in 7th-11th grades from all over L.A.

These teens worked with Holocaust survivors to pinpoint injustices they wanted to confront together. Through the workshop they learned to harness the power of media messages, the ways video can be used to raise awareness and effect change.

Participating survivor Idele Stapholtz’s message was simple. “I was a child survivor,” she recalled sharing with the students. “To be a survivor in this world means that you need to understand and respect something precious, help save it and keep it pure.”

It’s Not Just One was inspired by Harvard-Westlake freshman Michael Kellman’s love for the ocean. “I really wanted to do something about pollution in the ocean because the ocean is a huge part of my life,” he said. “I row crew in Marina del Rey every day and that’s my favorite thing in the world.”

Once the student filmmakers (Sarah McAllister, Kelly Morrison, Kyra Perez and Jordan Seibel) completed the PSA, they decided to gift it to Heal the Bay, which pleased Idele, a longtime supporter of Heal the Bay’s work. With her husband Ben, Idele spent years volunteering at what is now Heal the Bay’s Santa Monica Pier Aquarium.

“I thought It’s Not Just One was incredible. The result is so powerful,” she said.

Righteous Conversations launched in 2011 and is a project of Remember Us. Harvard-Westlake’s Visual Arts and Film Chair Cheri Gaulke led the workshops.

Learn more about participating in the Righteous Conversation workshops.

Watch Heal the Bay’s videos, from mockumentaries to hip hop music videos and silent films.

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Thank You Thursday – 1.10.13

01.10.2013 | Heal the Bay

About Us California Bag Ban More Ways to Give

Support for our work at Heal the Bay comes from such varied sources, that sometimes we feel more like curators than water quality advocates, scientists and educators.

For instance, when it came time to plan our sixth annual A Day Without a Bag, we wanted to find an image that captured the vast implications that choosing to use a reusable bag rather than a plastic one has on our environment. Hans Castro-Gallo created this richly detailed, sophisticated image for us to use on our posters and beyond.

We are extremely grateful to Hans for lending his creative talents to our cause.

Creative spirits need fuel, as do HtBers, which is why we thank our local Fresh Brothers for sharing their pizza and other treats to sustain us and our beloved volunteers.

We’d also like to thank the Phantasos Fund for renewing their sponsorship of the Shark and Ray exhibit at the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium and the Albert & Elaine Borchard Foundation for their commitment to education and the environment.

Members of the Heal the Bay staff also extend our heartfelt thanks to those of you who committed your donations to our work this year. Your dollars are well-spent, funding our efforts to bring low-income children to the beach for the first time, advocate for bans on plastic bags, as well as the essential water monitoring we conduct to keep the public safe.

Visit our Action Alert page to stay up-to-date on our latest advocacy campaigns, or sign up for our newsletters, and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Flickr.

Help fuel our education, advocacy and science programs, donate now.

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Thank You Thursday – 12.20.12

12.20.2012 | Heal the Bay

About Us California Bag Ban More Ways to Give Santa Monica

At Heal the Bay, we are so grateful to the ocean that every December, we promote sacking plastic bags and going reusable for the holidays…and all year round. Plastic bags clog our waterways, poisoning marine animals and posing health risks for humans.

T Boy poses with his reusable bag next to deflated Bag Monster his year, we’d like to thank Green Santa for distributing reusable bags at Olvera Street in historic Los Angeles at our sixth annual A Day Without a Bag. Some of the bags contained “golden tickets” good for $25 Vons/Pavilions gift cards. In addition, at their Hollywood stores, Vons/Pavilions rewarded customers using reusable bags with $25 gift cards. Thank you, Vons/Pavilions!

Thank you to our additional partners: Albertsons, Ralphs and Earthwise. We’d also like to thank our reusable bag “eco-elves,” who distributed bags throughout Los Angeles from the following local high schools:

Compton High School
APEX Academy @ Bernstein High School
Westchester Enriched Science Magnet
Sun Valley High School
King Drew Magnet High School

Coalition for a Green Glendale also handed out reusable bags at Glendale retailers.

The ocean is also important to the folks at Alchemie Spa, who hosted a “Beauty for the Bay” event this week, donating proceeds to Heal the Bay.

We are also grateful to have new neighbors, the independent pizzeria Fresh Bros. Not only is their food yummy, but they also donated a portion of their proceeds from last week to Heal the Bay.

And thank YOU for a wonderful 2012. Without you, we can’t push forward with our mission to keep the Santa Monica Bay healthy and safe. Whether you donate your time or your treasure (or both!) we appreciate all you do. Happy New Year!

Seeking a fun way to celebrate New Year’s Eve? Bring in the New Year 2013 in Santa Monica at the Basement Tavern at the Victorian! Great food, drinks and entertainment on all three floors: Ground Zero in the Basement, the Mixx in the Attic, and DJ Benjamin Walker on the Main Floor. Tickets are $45. Proceeds will benefit Heal the Bay and the National Heritage Museum.

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3 Things to Do with HtB This Week

12.17.2012 | Heal the Bay

California Bag Ban More Ways to Give Santa Monica

Friends don’t let friends use plastic bags. And this holiday season, Heal the Bay will reward your friends who go plastic-free.

As part of A Day Without a Bag on December 20, take a picture of yourself, your friends, or a stranger (with their permission, of course) using their reusable bags to enter our contest! Catch your friends in the act and post it to Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook with the hashtag #RockinReusables and tag @HealtheBay to enter. Winners will receive a limited edition Heal the Bay A Day Without a Bag T-shirt, $100 Vons gift card, as well as other great prizes. Contest ends at 5 p.m. on December 20, and winners will be announced on December 21.
Come meet Green Santa at Olvera Street noon-1 p.m. on December 20 and maybe you’ll be among the lucky recipients of reusable bags containing “golden tickets” redeemable for $25 Vons/Pavilions gift cards. Can’t make it to Olvera Street? You can still be a winner. We’re hosting dozens of other sites, from Chinatown to Venice, to give away and promote reusable bags. Check this map of all giveaway sites.
Join us for an evening of spa treatments at Alchemie Spa in Santa Monica. Fifteen minute mini-treatments are $35 in advance or $40 at the door with a reservation by phone (310-310-8880). Choose from a mini organic manicure, brow and lip wax, hand and foot scrub, chair massage, or mini-sage. Purchase tickets online: select an entrance-only ticket ($10) or a ticket with mini-treatment ($35). Alchemie Spa is generously donating 100% of the entrance charge, raffle tickets and auction plus 15% of the mini treatments.

Visit Heal the Bay’s calendar to discover more ways to get involved.

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Does Your Company Match Employee Donations?

12.12.2012 | Heal the Bay

More Ways to Give

Many companies match employee donations. If you work for one of the following companies, your employer will double your donation to Heal the Bay:

Amgen
AT&T
Bank of America
Boeing
Coca-Cola
Edison International
ExxonMobil
Gap Corporation (Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy)

General Electric
Hewlett-Packard (HP)
Home Depot
International Business Machines (IBM)
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.
Kaiser Permanente
Kraft Foods
McDonalds
Northrop Grumman

PepsiCo
Pfizer
Starbucks
The Capital Group Companies
Verizon
Walt Disney
Wells Fargo
Yum Brands (Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, KFC)

The following companies will double, triple or even quadruple your donation to Heal the Bay. Be sure to talk to your employer about their matching donations.

Air Products and Chemicals
American Express (Amex)
Annie E. Casey Foundation
Avon Foundation
Capital Group Companies
Coca-Cola
Consolidated Edison
Cooper Industries

Delta Dental of Kansas
Dominion Resources
Fifth and Pacific Companies (formerly Liz Claiborne)
FM Global
IBM
ITW – Illinois Tool Works

Johnson and Johnson
MBIA Inc. and Subsidiaries
Mitsubishi Corporation
PepsiCo
Soros Management Fund
Tiffany & Co.
Vulcan Materials

If you’d rather make a donation by phone, please call Bobby Argabrite at (310) 451-1500 x121.

Also check with your company if they pay for the time you donate as a volunteer to Heal the Bay.

Join thousands of your fellow ocean-lovers in giving the gift of life. Let’s keep our local beaches safe and healthy for generations to come.

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4 Things to Do with HtB This Week

12.10.2012 | Heal the Bay

California Bag Ban California Sharks More Ways to Give

• Heal the Bay has new neighbors in Santa Monica! Fresh Brothers, winner of the “Independent Pizzeria of the Year,” has opened up at 1447 Lincoln Blvd (on Broadway). Refuel from holiday shopping with handmade pizza (with gluten-free options), freshly chopped salad and tasty wings. Mention Heal the Bay from Dec. 10 to 16, and Fresh Brothers will donate 20% of your order to us!

• Some weigh in at more than 5,000 pounds and can measure more than 20 feet long. They are the biggest meat-eating sharks in the world, yet they are currently vulnerable with their population declining worldwide. The Great White Shark needs your help!

Although it is illegal to fish for white sharks in the U.S., they still face threats in their Northeastern Pacific range, including incidental catch from fishing vessels off the coast of California and Mexico, pollution, contamination, coastal development, and climate change.

Sign our petition today to support the listing of the Northeastern Pacific population of white sharks as endangered or threatened under the California Endangered Species Act. And please share with your friends!

• To further help the marine animals we love so much, friends don’t let friends use plastic bags, especially when they’re holiday shopping. This year, as part of A Day Without a Bag on December 20, Heal the Bay wants YOU to Rock Your Reusables! Take a picture of yourself, your friends, or a stranger (with their permission, of course) using their reusable bags to enter the contest! Catch your friends in the act and post it to Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook with the hashtag #RockinReusables and tag @HealtheBay to enter.

Winners will receive a limited edition Heal the Bay A Day Without a Bag T-shirt, $100 Vons gift card, as well as other great prizes. Contest ends at 5 p.m. on Dec. 20, 2012, and winners will be announced on Dec. 21, 2012.

• If you haven’t already, check out Heal the Bay’s holiday shopping guide to find the perfect gifts for the reusable bag-using ocean lovers on your list!

Visit Heal the Bay’s calendar to discover more ways to get involved.

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Thank You Thursday – 12.6.12

12.06.2012 | Heal the Bay

Long Beach / Avalon Malibu / Pacific Palisades Marina del Rey / Playa del Rey Marine Protected Areas More Ways to Give Palos Verdes Peninsula Santa Monica South Bay Venice Beach

Today we celebrate how hard work does pay off. Nineteen marine protected areas (MPAs) will become effective December 19, completing the statewide network of MPAs in California’s coastal regions. Last year we rejoiced as the MPAs along the south coast became effective, and now the state will boast a suite of MPAs all the way up to the Oregon border.

Heal the Bay staff and partners worked for years to designate these MPAs, which protect entire ecosystems, allowing animals living in these areas to repopulate.

We extend our thanks to the Resources Legacy Fund Foundation for their ongoing support of our ocean conservation work, especially for establishing these Marine Protected Areas in Southern California!

In addition, we thank Sempra Energy and the Southern California Gas Company for their generous support of our Key to the Sea program and commitment to volunteerism. We are also grateful to the John W. Carson Foundation —established by Tonight Show host Johnny Carson in 1988 — for their longtime support of our beach cleanup and educational programs.

This week Heal the Bay staff got to ring in some festive cheer at our annual holiday party. It was a day to celebrate each other and the hard work and dedication that goes into protecting Southern California’s coastal waters.

Heal the Bay Holiday Party 2012

We had a wonderful time and it would not have been the rockin’ party it was without the help and generosity of some amazing people and businesses:

Huge thank you to our awesome board member Barry Gribbon who graciously let us use his home to host our party. You rock, Barry!
Our party was so sweet thanks to the incredibly moist and delicious bundtinis from Nothing Bundt Cakes.
Tru Protection not only continues to donate 15% of the proceeds from the Abel Art series of Iphone cases, but they also generously donated a few to raffle off to staff!
And finally, Alchemie Spa helped us feel pampered when one lucky staffer got to walk away with a gift certificate for an organic manicure. Come treat yourself for a good cause on December 18 when Alchemie throws a party for us, complete with food, drinks, mini-treatments and so much more. All of the proceeds from the evening’s $10 entrance charge, raffle tickets, silent auction and a portion of spa treatments will go to protecting what we all love…the ocean!

We’d also like to thank surfwear retailer O’Neill, which has offered a special edition Heal the Bay surfer t-shirt at their Santa Monica store since September 2011. We appreciate the ongoing support!

More: Visit the Heal the Bay holiday gift guide for the ocean lovers on your list.

Want do more to protect the ocean? Heal the Bay offers myriad ways to get involved—from our citizen science program MPA Watch to beach cleanups.

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Getting Into the Holiday Spirit HtB-Style

12.04.2012 | Heal the Bay

About Us Long Beach / Avalon Malibu / Pacific Palisades Marina del Rey / Playa del Rey More Ways to Give Palos Verdes Peninsula Santa Monica South Bay Venice Beach

It’s that time of year….

Gifts to buy, presents to wrap, crowds, parties, lines, stress, debt, more shopping, more wrapping, cooking, planning … and oh yes, giving back.

It’s that time of the season when you tell yourself: This year’s going to be different. This year, I’m going to remember the true spirit of the season. This year, I’m going to do something charitable. I’ll serve meals at a shelter, I’ll make time to volunteer, I’ll adopt a family for Christmas …

And suddenly, you’re out of time. The holidays are over, and you haven’t had a chance to do a thing but shop, eat, drive, wait in line, wrap, eat, and stress more. You resign by saying, “Next year. I’ll make the holidays less commercial and more about love and giving — next year.”

Don’t give up. Heal the Bay is here, and we’ve made it easy for you to do it all. Shop, eat, drink, be merry AND be charitable without spending an extra penny. When you shop, eat or drink at one of our holiday partners, a portion of your sale will be gifted back to Heal the Bay.

Having a party? As much as you’d love another potted plant, tell your guests what you really want are donations for the bay. We’ll even give you games, supplies and a gift wrapped box to collect their “treasure.”

Looking for a special place for your party? It doesn’t get any more awesome than the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium! The décor is done! Kelp Forests in awesome neon! Entertainment? How many holiday parties have you been to that included petting a seastar, feeding a shark or communing with a moon jelly?

However you enjoy the holidays, remember a gift for you: give yourself a moment, an hour a day, to take in the splendor of the sea.

–Nina Borin

Development Manager, Corporate Relations and Special Events

Send Nina an email if you want your business included in Heal the Bay’s holiday shopping guide or if you want to throw a HtB-themed holiday party.

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