Our next club meeting is this Wednesday, April 21, at 7:30am. This meeting will be IN-PERSON at the Bluffton Rotary Building.We will not have an online component for this meeting.
Our guest speaker will be Dr. Jean M. Fruh, Executive Director of The Outside Foundation. The Outside Foundation is a non-profit organization established in 2014 with a mission to get kids outside, and protect and preserve our local environment. The guiding values and principles of The Outside Foundation are consistent with those of its founding company, Outside Hilton Head: to provide outdoor experiences that will have a positive impact on people by creating awareness, expanding knowledge, and developing a responsible understanding of nature and the environment. Welcome Dr. Fruh!
To purchase a Boston butt or a brisket go to our club website at http://www.blufftonrotary.org and use the payment center drop down button underneath the fundraiser flyer.
At our last meeting, we inducted two new members to our Rotary club--Natalie Jones and Kristen McGuire. A warm welcome to them both!
Meet Natalie Jones:
Natalie was an active member of the Rotary Club of Anderson and is excited to transfer her membership to the Bluffton Rotary Club. She relocated almost two months ago to serve as the Operations Manager for the Greater Bluffton Chamber of Commerce, and has nearly eight years of experience in multiple facets of the Chamber of Commerce Industry. Most recently, she served as the Director of Programs and Events for the Anderson Area Chamber in Anderson, SC. Natalie earned a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Murray State University in Murray, KY. In her free time, she enjoys being outdoors, spending time with family and friends, traveling, and gardening.
Meet Kristen McGuire:
Kristen moved in 2020 to the Lowcountry with her husband, Daniel, a retired Marine. They have eight children, the youngest two of which attend John Paul II Catholic School. A nonprofit executive and freelance writer for most of her career, Kristen loves being a part of a community like Bluffton. She does part-time consulting work for Upstream Consulting, a grantswriting firm in Savannah, and just took a job at the Boys and Girls Club of Bluffton as the Director of Resource Development.
The reef building will take place on April 24th from 10:30am to 1pm. We have a sign up sheet on the club website under Upcoming Events. Volunteers will meet at Trask Landing, 325 Sawmill Creek Road in Bluffton. Below is an email from John Anderson regarding the Reef Building Project.
The increasing popularity of backyard oyster roasts and by-the-bushel retail sales of oysters has contributed to a shortage of shells returned to our estuaries to provide a suitable surface to attract juvenile oysters. More often than not, the shells end up in driveways and landfills.
During the summer months, oysters spawn and release free-swimming larvae, called spat, into the water column. The spat are carried by tide and current and after spending about two weeks moving in the water column, seek a suitable surface upon which to attach and begin building their shells of calcium carbonate. Unless disturbed, they will spend the remainder of their life cycle where they have attached. Centuries of oyster cultivation experience have proven oyster shell to be one of most desirable materials (called cultch) for attachment and subsequent growth of young oysters.
Adult oysters filter and purify up to 2.5 gallons of water per hour or up to 50 gallons per day. Oysters build reefs which provide habitat for fish, shrimp, crabs, and other animals. They are an integral part of the marine ecosystem. There are nearly 120 different species that frequent oyster reefs, including; Red Drum, Blue Crabs, Flounder, and Shrimp.
Join us for a landscaping project for Arbor Day, April 30th at the Field of Dreams Pavilion. We have a sign up sheet on the club website and on the bulletin under Upcoming Events: Arbor Day Planting to help plant 56 plants around the Pavilion. We will need ten volunteers for Friday, April 30th from 7:30 - 9:30am.
In addition to the planting, we would greatly appreciate donations to help pay for these 56 plants. The total cost of all 56 plants is $900. Southern Marsh Nursery has been very helpful in providing us some very favorable pricing for these plants. If you are interested in making a donation please reach out to Jim Evans at 770-335-3524 or 22jsevans@gmail.com.
