The Navarre Beach Marine Sanctuary Committee’s plans for the Reef Sponsorship Program won’t be officially unveiled until after the Impact 100 Grant Winners have been decided in October.    Even so – the program has generated early interests.   Three companies or individuals have already stepped up to the plate to make pledges of support:

Best Western Navarre

Deep & Wide Dredging, Inc.

Mike & Nancy Sandler

Thank you to these individuals and companies for their leadership in helping to Make Navarre Snorkelicious!

Join us for the next monthly meeting of the Navarre Beach Marine Sanctuary Committee on Monday, August 23rd at 6 PM.  The meeting will be in the Navarre Visitor Information Center Conference Room.    Please enter through the entrance facing the sound.

We will be discussing plans for the Run for the Reef 5K and our providing an update on the Impact 100 Grant progress.

We’ll be showing off and distributing the new bumperstickers too.

As always – the public is welcomed and encouraged to attend and participate.

Help us Make Navarre Snorkelicious!

The Environmental Committee for Pensacola Bay Area Impact 100 conducted a site visit with the Navarre Beach Marine Sanctuary Committee this morning  (Saturday August 14th).   Impact 100 is a group of 560 women in the Pensacola Bay Area, who with their financial contributions and effective management of an annual grant program, provide over $500,000 in funding to worthy charitable organization programs  in five categories.   Last year the Marine Sanctuary was a finalist in the environmental category.  We are again pursuing the grant opportunity in the Environmental category this year.

We were pleased to share with the Impact 100 members, the current status of our efforts to bring beach accessible reefs to Navarre Beach and the positive impact the program will have on our region.  Many thanks to the Impact 100 organization and the members who took time out of their weekend to visit us at Navarre Beach.   While there we provided program information, toured the reef locations, and answered questions about the program, our progress and plans.

After site visits have been conducted with the grant applicants, two finalists in each of five categories will be selected and announced.  Each finalist will make a presentation before the full Impact 100 organization at their annual meeting in the Fall.   During the meeting,  each of the five grants (one in each category) will be announced and awarded.    We are hopeful and optimistic about our application, and look forward to the announcement of the finalists.

The leaking oil well appears to be CAPPED!!

And that’s following a cavalcade of other good news about the Marine Sanctuary…..

We recently submitted our Impact 100 Grant application for a $114K Grant.
We’ll be submitting a $250K Grant through Pepsi’s Refresh Everything Site on August 1.
We just got our first pledge of $1,500 for our Pledge Program.

And last but not least …..there’s still time to reserve your spot for a Run For The Reef 5K T-shirt Sponsorship.     $125 for your name or your company name on the Race Shirt and $250 for your logo.

Why not celebrate all the good news by signing up today.

You can reserve your sponsorship by emailing navbms@navarrebeachmarinesanctuary.com or by phone (850-677-1875).  You can also do it online by making the appropriate donation amount on our website and noting in the additional notes section what sponsorship level to associate with your contribution.

Thanks for helping us Make Navarre Snorkelicious!!

Check out our ONLINE PLEDGE FORM.   No need to pull out your credit card or write a check now – just  tell us how much you would like to pledge to our efforts to Make Navarre Snorkelicious and through which type of sponsorship.    You can also download a pdf version of the pledge form here and mail it t:

Navarre Beach Marine Sanctuary c/o Navarre Chamber Foundtion, 8668 Navarre Pkwy #142, Navarre FL 32566

You can  access the pledge form and also make tax deductible donations via Pay Pal from our Pledges and Donations Page.

The Navarre Beach Fun Fest was held Saturday May 15th.  Amidst all the food, shopping, entertainment, and activities was your Navarre Beach Marine Sanctuary Booth.  Lots of folks stopped by to check out our progress on both the permitting and fund raising fronts.  Others stopped by to see what the Marine Sanctuary was all about.  A great day to be out on the beach in Navarre, and another great opportunity to communicate the marine sanctuary benefits to the Gulf Coast….our three E’s

• Economy
• Education
• Environment

Andy Epstein helps Make Navarre Snorkelicious

Thanks to all who came out and special thanks to those that manned the booth.

Our next Navarre Beach Marine Sanctuary meeting is Monday, May 24th at 6 pm at the Navarre Visitor Center in Navarre Park.  Please attend for updates on the reef project and upcoming events.  The success of this project is dependent on community awareness and funding, and we need your help.  Sponsors and volunteers for  the Run for the Reef 5K are being gathered and work is being done to compile the 2010 Impact 100 Grant Application.  Come on out and learn how you can  help Make Navarre Snorkelicious!

Our next Navarre Beach Marine Sanctuary meeting is Monday, April 26 at 6 pm at the Navarre Visitor Center in Navarre Park.  Please attend for updates on the reef project and upcoming events.  The success of this project is dependent on community awareness and funding, and we need your help.  Check out the Run For the Reef volunteer checklist and let us know if there are some things on there you could help us do help with the run in our continuing efforts to to Make Navarre Snorkelicious!

AGENDA for Meeting Monday, April 26

1.  Fundraising and Grants

Impact100 Grant due in June
Run for Reef October 16
Bumper stickers

2.  Community awareness/volunteers needed

Sunset Stampede on Navarre Beach May 1st
Fun Fest on Navarre Beach  May 14th and 15th
Safe Boating Clinic May 22nd at the Navarre Beach Boat Ramp

3.   Update on reef sponsorship program and proposed signage for beach

4.   Comments

Escambia County received word today from NOAA,  of a favorable ruling for the  snorekeling reef permits in the sound near the Fort Pickens gate and nearshore in the Gulf, just west of  Casino Beach.   This means  after the Army Corps of Engineers is officially notified of the ruling, that Federal Permits should be forthcoming.

This is GREAT NEWS for both Escambia and Santa Rosa counties.  Because of the favorable ruling, the way is paved for application of the same criteria and precedent  inthe permits being sought by the Marine Sanctuary.  We are one very large step closer to Making Navarre Snorkelicious!!

Another bit of good news is that the re survey of the Navarre Gulf Reef Site came back with no changes to the original survey.  This means no  information gathered for the Navarre Gulf side snorkeling reef permits will need to be altered, which should further help the speed of the permitting process.

The Marine Sanctuary Committee has selected Saturday October 16th, 2010  as  the date for the  2nd annual Run For The Reef 5k Race and 1 Mile Kid’s Fun Run.   Mark your calendars for this exciting event.  The course on Navarre Beach is one of the area favorites and the weather is perfect for it in the fall.

Last year’s inaugural race featured over 300 runners and raised over $8,000 for  the committee’s efforts to establish snorkeling and diving reefs at Navarre Beach.   There will be  awards in all age categories and door prizes and you won’t want to miss the great after party.

We look forward to welcoming back last years participants and plan to see a lot of new faces.   Look for details as the event planning kicks into gear.  We  also look forward to renewing with many of our sponsors from last year also that helped make the event successful.  Spread the word and help us Make Navarre Snorkelicious!!