Along with these green policies, FF also wanted to team up with our chapter of the Surfrider Foundation and proposed naming one of their entrees and one of their specialty drinks in honor of Surfrider for our work in helping to protect our oceans and beaches.  Flying Fish have offered to donate $1 for every one of these entrees and drinks sold, to our chapter of Surfrider.  They chose the “Low Country Steamer Feast” entree and the “Hang Ten” specialty drink.  The restaurant also proposed that we display information regarding the Surfrider Foundation and our mission in the lobby area of the restaurant.

Flying Fish had their soft opening weekend on April 17 and 18 and allowed Surfrider to set up an information table in the lobby.  All food was free to patrons, but they did ask them to donate $5 to our chapter on the way out the door.  Surfrider received over $1,000 from Flying Fish for the weekend event.

Surfrider is very excited about our future relationship with the Flying Fish and appreciative of their generosity.  We encourage everyone to visit them at Barefoot Landing in North Myrtle Beach.

Volunteer Cindy Goode maintaining the Surfrider booth at Flying Fish

This book has been wildly popular with young students, and have been big sellers with schools, museums, children stores, book stores and parks.

All proceeds from the sell of this book goes toward the Myrtle Beach Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation and the Sea Turtle Program at the Myrtle Beach State Park. Your contribution is a non-profit tax-deductible donation.  E-mail us at mail@surfridergrandstrand.org, or if you’re old fashioned, call the Myrtle Beach Intermediate School (Julie Farmer) at (843) 626-5831.

The words of Bill McKibben written almost 20 years ago still ring true.

We’ve gotten used to spending more money to make Christmas special, he writes. “But if money’s no longer as valuable as time, we’re offering each other a devalued currency.”

Far from asking people to stop giving, McKibben simply asks that they put forth things that matter: time, attention, memory, whimsy.
“We run short on these things in our lives, even as we have an endless supply of software, hardware, ready-to-wear,” he writes.

Below are some tips for a greener, cleaner Christmas.  They were compiled by the First Church Environmental Stewardship team in November 2006.

• One of the recommended potted house plants that help clean the air (dracaenas, palms, ferns, English ivy, peace lily and spider plants)
• Time is often a bigger gift than money. Create coupons that offer free babysitting, house cleaning, pet sitting, car washing, gardening for a month, cooking a meal, etc. Offer to teach someone a skill you have.
• Re-usable canvas shopping bag filled with earth-friendly cleaning supplies, compact fluorescent light bulbs, etc.
• Instead of exchanging unwanted items with coworkers or extended family, suggest donating to a charity as a group.
• Gift basket with natural face and body products and a low flow or AAA rated shower head
• South Carolina State park passes (half price for senior citizens)
• Rechargeable batteries and charger (remember to properly recycle old batteries)
• Bird feeders and bird houses (especially those made from recycled materials)
• Home made baked goods in a basket with instant spiced cider, fair trade coffee, cocoa, or tea. Add some of your favorite recipes.
• Make a donation to a local charity in someone’s name.
• Put together a photo album full of fond memories
• Make an audio or video family tree. Using a tape recorder or a video camera, interview elderly relatives about their childhood, courtships, and other precious memories.
• Give a membership to an environmental organizations such as the Surfrider Foundation, Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Fund, Environmental Defense Fund, Sierra Club and National Wildlife Federation
• Bicycle and accessories (to promote alternative transportation)
• Adopt an endangered animal through a donation to World Wildlife Fund (www.worldwildlife.org)
• Educational books dealing with nature and our environment make good presentsDon’t forget to share your books with family and friends. Not only does it give you a topic of conversation but it is good for the environment.
• Help your children develop a love of nature not only through books but by taking them camping, fishing or hiking. Children are tomorrow’s environmentalists.
• Gardeners will love an assortment of seeds, bulbs, gardening books or catalogs presented in a new planting pot.

• Consider cutting back your list, choosing cards made of recycled materials, or even buying them from a charity that benefits the environment. If we each sent one card less, we’d save 30,000 cubic yards of paper.
• Send e-greetings to family, friends and business associates who are online.
• Maybe a personal telephone call would be more meaningful to that person living far away.

• Use re-useable gift bags
• Select uncoated gift wrap that can be recycled and/or burned safely.
• Save gift wrap and bows for reuse
• Make gift tags from last year’s holiday cards.
• Most gifts boxes can be flattened and reused throughout the year for other items. Recycle boxes that can’t be reused.

• Put outside Christmas lights on a timer and set them to turn on only when it is dark and turn off before you go to bed.
• Don’t forget to recycle your cut Christmas tree.

The signs are 12″ X 16″, 8-guage aluminum signs paid for by the sales of “I’Caretta”, a book created by students at the M.B. Intermediate School. The artwork for the sign was created by Surfrider member Al McWhite, and provides a list of do’s and don’t if sea turtle tracks, nests or hatchlings are spotted.

Fifty signs have been created so far, which will be posted within the city limits of Myrtle Beach. More signs will be created after these initial signs are posted. Surfrider plans to expand on this program for the entire Grand Strand area.

Staci Williams, a fourth grade teacher at Myrtle Beach Intermediate School, has received the State Superintendent’s Service Learning Award. Williams and her students were chosen for the award based upon their work to promote environmental awareness regarding the dangers to sea turtle populations in our area. After doing research, students decided that the best way they could help would be through educating the public in ways to protect this species. Their goal was to raise funds so that they could place public service announcements along beach accesses and in hotels along the Grand Strand, paying particular attention to nesting areas. To raise money the students created I, Caretta, a book detailing the life cycle of a loggerhead sea turtle. The book is written entirely in haiku and contains turtle protection facts on each page. Students enlisted the help of Kim Clayton, a local artist, to help the class with the illustrations. The students successfully raised $6,000 to publish hardcover editions of the book and donated the proceeds from book sales to the Myrtle Beach Surfrider Foundation, which will use the funds to educate the public about protecting sea turtles and nesting sites. Williams will be recognized by State Superintendent Inez Tenenbaum and the State Board of Education on September 14 in Columbia.