June 18, 2011 — GREAT NEWS:
Friends of Hunting Island was recognized as a tourism leader last night during the Civitas Award and Annual meeting ceremony. Walking the red carpet were Bonnie Wright and Bruce Doneff. Accepting the award was Bonnie Wright. This is a wonderful achievement that for which we should be very proud. We know we are good at environmental and ecological endeavors. But to be recognized for our efforts in promoting tourism in the Low-country is truly an outstanding accomplishment. It's a credit to the hard work done by all of you and our members; from trails to accessibility, from trash to turtles, from docent talks to nature walks. Congratulations to all of you for your continued hard work and support of Friends of Hunting Island.
As a special note..........our own Bruce Doneff was nominated for the Beaufort Alumni award for among other things his work on the Leadership program. Congratulations to you Bruce and a special thank you for all you do for Friends and the Beaufort Community.
Jon Greene, President, FOHI
2010 FOHI Accomplishments — Bonnie Wright, Outgoing President
- It's totally amazing how much we have accomplished this past year. Thanks to your dedicated enthusiasm and strong support we succeeded in acquiring 139 new members. We now have a total of 769 members; slightly down from 773 members this time last year. Friends have contributed approximately a total of $58,000 to enhancements to the park and special park events. This does not include the $42,000 awarded to Friends from the 2010 County A-Tax for enhancements to public beach access areas. Our largest fundraiser the FOHI DMV license plate this year has generated revenue totally $9,686 and since introduction a total of $42,965.
- Park Projects:
- ♦ 2nd Annual Pelican Plunge had close to 400 attend and raised over $3,000.
- ♦ Increased Discover Carolina school program participation from 0 in 08/09 to 7 schools with 421 students in 09/10 and already have 350 signed up for the 2010/11 school year.
- ♦ Installed new bird feeder stations at the Nature Center water garden.
- ♦ HISP became part of the SC Audubon Important Bird Area program.
- ♦ Continued the DHEC/OCRM Adopt-A-Beach Trashbuster program.
- ♦ Installed trail signs/kiosks and printed new trail maps.
- ♦ Built 5th Oyster Reef restoration site.
- ♦ Maintained water quality monitoring for SCORE.
- ♦ Designed/purchased/installed two new Nature Center signs from 2% A-tax funding.
- ♦ FOHI purchased four Nature Center educational touch screens.
- ♦ Conducted two beach sweeps with a total of 380+ participants.
- ♦ Added wildlife specimens to Nature Center displays.
- ♦ Stemming from the Cigarette Litter Prevention Program installed four ashtray receptacles at North beach.
- ♦ FOHI added three ashtray receptacles at South beach.
- ♦ Constructed handicap wheelchair storage shed with signage at North Beach.
- ♦ Built cabinetry bases for reptile cages and stand for touch screen.
- ♦ Added, repaired and replaced monofilament and trash bag receptacles.
- ♦ Held 3rd annual sand sculpture contest.
- ♦ Held 2nd annual 5K walk/run.
- ♦ Conducted turtle and litter educational tours at the park to several youth groups, scout troops and organizations.
- ♦ All who were involved with the turtle program went over and above the call of duty this year with the DNA study, dealing with beach erosion and a record number of 111 turtle nests.
- ♦ Increased assisting the Nature Center staff with programs.
- ♦ Continued alligator and lighthouse docent program.
- ♦ Assisted Eagle Scout on installing Rain Barrel water conservation project with interpretative signage at Nature Center.
- ♦ Cleaned/maintained Nature Center water garden.
- ♦ Repaired Visitor Center pond fountain and electric system.
- ♦ Contracted repairs to irrigation system and landscaping at the lighthouse compound.
- ♦ Constructed boxes for the park's new Ranger Quest program.
- ♦ Purchased 2 additional all terrain wheelchairs, 4 bike racks, 4 shower towers, and 8 changing cubicles to North and South beach access areas.
- ♦ Implemented County maintained port-a-john and trash receptacles at Russ Point.
- Outreach Successes
- ♦ Received the 2010 Earth Day State Award for our ongoing litter control efforts.
- ♦ Received Environmental Awareness Certificate of Recognition award for our leadership efforts in protection, conservation, and improvements to the natural resources and environment from SCDHEC/OCRM Donated Commemorative T-shirts to the Beaufort Boys & Girls Club and Haiti.
- ♦ Established a separate e-mail list serve for our turtle program.
- ♦ Invited and participated in the Low Country Eat Smart, Move More 2010 School Wellness Conference in Bluffton.
- ♦ Invited and participated in three Earth Day Events (Port Royal, Beaufort Memorial and Habersham.
- ♦ Formed a communication networking partnership with River Smart.
- ♦ Partnered with KBCB and BCSW on a grant to implement a Cigarette Litter Prevention Program at the park.
- ♦ FOHI and KBCB got county to install and maintain a port-a-john and trash receptacle at Russ Point.
- ♦ Upgraded our website hosting to a much larger capacity with a new web address.
- ♦ Conducted several outreach speaker programs to other local organizations.
- ♦ Participated and collaborated with Coastal Conservation League in promoting "Hands Across the Sand" event at the beach.
- ♦ Conducted FOHI information booth at Water Festival, Port Royal Seafood Festival and Bluffion Arts and Seafood Festival.
October 9th! 2nd ANNUAL 5K RUN / WALK
The trails were in such fine shape...
2009 5k Run/Walk at the 150th LIGHTHOUSE ANNIVERSARY Celebration
2010 TURTLES!!
Read all about the 2010 nesting season! Click www.seaturtle.org/nestdb/. Once on this page, select the South Carolina DNR Marine Turtle Conservtion Program link. On the next page, check out the totals and then select our beach from the drop down list.
Please remember all our events and social gatherings. You can even volunteer to help out! Watch our Calendar for coming dates and put them on your calendar.
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