July 2013: Volunteers enhance coastal center for summer programs

Every Spring and Summer SoundWaters benefits from the generosity of volunteer groups who lend us time, energy and hands-on muscle power. With outdoor education programs in full force in May and June, followed by preparation for Camp SoundWaters, the busy staff has little time to ready the Coastal Center and its surroundings for our summer sessions.

By the end of August, more than 200 employees from Tronox, XL Reinsurance, Nestlé Waters North America, O’Connor Davies, Daversa Partners, Priceline.com, Robinson & Cole, RBS, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, and UBS will have volunteered at the Center.

In addition to providing an important service, the volunteer program is equally beneficial to our corporate partners and their staff. At SoundWaters, scrubbing canoes and sailboats, cutting back deadwood and trimming bushes, painting a porch, spreading sand or yes, even moving rocks gives everyone the sense of accomplishment that comes from finishing a project. A few hours out of the office engaged in healthy, outdoor activities which also may include coastal clean-ups to protect marine wildlife or horseshoe crab tagging during the mating season, translates into real-time, team-building and learning about Long Island Sound animals and habitats.

“Tronox participated because it’s part of our corporate culture to be active in our community,” said Bud Grebey, Vice President, Corporate Communications at Tronox, and a member of SoundWaters Board of Directors. “The volunteer day at SoundWaters was especially meaningful for us because we’re new to the area and it was the first time that people from different corporate functions were able to interact in a fun setting.”

Grebey also noted that more than half the Tronox employees participated in the volunteer day, giving new-comers an opportunity to see a part of Stamford they hadn’t seen; “to learn about SoundWaters and the great work that SoundWaters does;” and to be a part of Stamford.

“Everyone who participated wants to know when we’re doing it again,” he said. “It speaks to our culture, and it was fun.”

In fact, our corporate volunteers do return year after year, and no doubt we’ll have plenty of work. Our partnerships have proved invaluable, allowing us to focus on what we do best: teaching about the science of Long Island Sound.