Heal the Bay Blog

We are feeling especially grateful this week, as it’s the week before Thanksgiving—the perfect time to say “thank you” to the ocean for all it provides.

We’d also like to thank the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation for pledging support to Heal the Bay’s Santa Monica Pier Aquarium Youth Environmental Education/Field Trip program. For many Los Angeles area students, a field trip to our Aquarium marks their first trip to the ocean! Thanks to this pledge of support, we’ll be able to lead these students in beach exploration games and introduce them to some of the marine life that call our Bay home.

We are grateful for the Parsons Foundation’s commitment to education, the environment and local youth!

Who says cleaning the beach is easy? At this week’s Corporate Healer Beach Cleanup, employees from Macerich battled strong winds to gather the trash along Santa Monica Beach. Thank you for sticking it out to protect what you love!

We’re also grateful for the support of our benefit partners Honu Yoga, Casmaine Boutique and Ted Baker.

Heal the Bay staff wish a bon voyage to Cara Young, our 2012 Coastal Cleanup Day coordinator. Thank you, Cara for all of your hard work, dedication and enthusiasm. We’ll miss hearing you sing at your desk!

Enjoy your Thanksgiving holiday!

Learn all the ways you can help heal the Bay.

One of the most gratifying parts of our job at Heal the Bay is knowing that we are sparking a love of the ocean in kids of all ages. Through our Key to the Sea marine environmental education program we were able to bring approximately 9000 K-5 students to the beach in 2011-2012.

The program focuses on watersheds, the storm drain system, pollution prevention, the sandy beach habitat, and environmental stewardship. It includes engaging hands-on activities for students, including a field trip to the beach, as well as exciting professional development opportunities for teachers.

And we couldn’t have reached so many kids and teachers without the long-term support of the City of Long Beach Department of Public Works. Their funds will enable hundreds of elementary school-age students from the Long Beach Unified School District to participate in the Key to the Sea program in 2013. Thank you!

(We’re always searching for grantors to support our Key to the Sea program. If you would like to contribute, please send an e-mail or call 310.451.1500 x147.)

We’d also like to thank the employees of Ernst & Young, who brought their families to the beach in Santa Monica on November 3 and removed 23 pounds of trash!

Spark the enviro spirit at your workplace and join us for a cleanup!

If you’ve ever attended one of our events, you’ve benefited from the work of a cadre of staff and volunteers dedicated to FUN! Oh, and also to protecting our environment.

This past weekend, we pulled off two simultaneous events: Our annual Fishy Fest at Heal the Bay’s Santa Monica Pier Aquarium and our first fall festival at WAYS park.

The aquarium staff would like to send a big thank you to special projects volunteers Ann and Ken Casebier who built our photo booth. Thanks to their efforts, the Aquarium was able to have a presence on top of the Pier throughout the Fishy Fest weekend, encouraging folks to mug for the camera with a marine-themed backdrop and publicize the fact we had many great activities going on in the Aquarium below.

We’d also like to thank Nili Hudson, a volunteer and donor who generously supports our work in many ways, and children’s author Dave Derrick for reading from his book during Story Time. 

For the fall festival at WAYS park, we appreciate the efforts of Steve Cancian and Jose Estrada. Both Steve and Jose have been involved with the project since its inception two years ago. In addition to running the community design meetings for the project, Steve helped plan the event and he ran the park’s information table, answering questions from the community. Jose, who works with ACUSLA (Association of United Communities of Southern Los Angeles) helped Stephen Mejia, our Urban Programs Coordinator, go door-to-door within the community to spread the word about the event.

More than 30 families attended, consuming 100 hot dogs, carving pumpkins and creating painted masks. Thank you, Jose and Steve! We look forward to counting on your support as we move forward with WAYS.

Last week we also re-launched our Lunch ‘n Learn field trip program at Duke’s Malibu on PCH. We are grateful to the staff at Duke’s who have renewed their commitment to hosting this educational effort. We love you, Duke’s (and not just for your Hula pie).