PROVIDENCE – Over the last 40 years, Save The Bay has grown from an ad hoc group of 67 people fighting a petroleum facility in Tiverton to 4,300 members today.
To celebrate its 40th anniversary, which will be marked at the environmental group’s annual membership meeting on May 13, Save The Bay has launched “Strength in Numbers,” a campaign highlighting its growth.
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“The organization’s history is defined by its role as the catalyst for people to connect with the bay and to respond when a call to action is required,” Executive Director Jonathan Stone said in a statement. “As the numbers grew, so did many good things. Numbers also show the results.”
Save The Bay says more than 40,000 households have contributed to the organization since its founding in 1970; 14,228 households have been members at one point or another during the last four decades; and it plants 110,000 eelgrass shoots each season.
The Save The Bay Education Program worked with 22,384 people during fiscal 2009 alone, and volunteers collected 21,854 pounds of trash collected from coastlines and communities last year.
Save The Bay has also treaded into new areas, opposing a proposed liquefied natural gas facility in Mount Hope Bay and fighting for environmental legislation at the Statehouse.
In 2005, Save The Bay opened the 17,600-square-foot Save The Bay Center on the site of a former landfill at Fields Point in Providence. Two years later, it opened the Exploration Center and Aquarium in Newport.
In 2008, it entered the virtual world with the creation of a Google Map that tracks the organization’s projects around the state. Save The Bay said 25,941 Internet users have viewed the map since its launch. Elsewhere on the Web, 2,795 people have becomes fans of Save The Bay on Facebook and the organization’s YouTube channel has collected more than 28,095 views.
“Save The Bay is extremely proud of what we have accomplished in the last 40 years,” said Thomas Rogers, president of Save The Bay’s board of directors. “And we are equally excited about what the future holds for our organization.”
Additional information is available at savethebay.org.
