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.