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08.23.23

August Meeting Minutes

August 16, 2023-Meeting Minutes

Location: The Tiny Turtle Restaurant

 

6:30 Call to order– Kris Baker, Chair welcomes everyone to the meeting and encourages attendees to enjoy the appetizers in celebration of Ocean Friendly Restaurant (OFR) month. Kelly Lieneke, owner of The Tiny Turtle, has been an OFR for many years and continues to support Surfrider’s OFR guidelines to eliminate plastics within her restaurant.

 Past Events Recap

7/22 Beach Cleanup Pelican Beach Park. Although it was a very hot day, a small group came out to clean up Pelican Beach’s parking lot and the beach. Plastics was the main source of the debris.

 EC/Program/Campaign Reports

  • Chair Report: Kris Baker reports that this year’s Florida conference will be held in Palm Beach, Florida on November 3rd to 4th. Members attending are: Kris, Chris, Christine & Dean.
    • Bank Update: Corporate is working to merge chapter bank accounts to Wells Fargo for consistency. Our chapter will receive a new bank account number.
    • Monthly Regional Meeting Virtual Call: As a part of the wrap-up for the 5 Year Plan #NoNewLeases campaign, Surfrider is delivering a packet of opposition letters and media  to the Governor urging him to speak out against new oil and gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico. Surfrider is putting together a press release and looking for quotes from chapter leadership on why we must end this dirty practice now. If interested, please send a quote to Kris Baker by Friday, August 18th. Note: you don't need to live on the Gulf to submit - between the reefs bleaching and scorching temps, we all have a reason to demand climate action now and an end to oil and gas leasing in U.S. waters. 
    • Upcoming Statewide Campaign Activation: Stop Radioactive Roads. Surfrider sent an email urging members to encourage Governor DeSantis to veto HB1191 Phosphogypsum in Florida Road. This bill took into effect on July 1. Thank you to those who acted. At the end of August, Surfrider is sharing a signed letter and form for Florida local and state elected officials to EPA clearly stating their opposition to the use of phosphogypsum in their community / district / municipality. Chapters are asked to reach out to their local elected to sign-on, i.e., county commissioners, city, village or town council members, and school boards. Surfrider will also provide social media resources to educate members and followers with fact sheets. Keep an eye out for a launch email later this month! 
    • Day in Tallahassee-Florida chapters gather to meet elected officials and expressed concerns on January 22 and 33, 2024. Training will occur on January 22nd.
    • Surf Expo-Orlando September 8 and 9.
    • Beach Cleanups- The board met to plan the last quarter of the year. Since there are other organizations performing beach cleanups, the board decided to clean up beaches every other month. The next one will be A1A Highway/Beach Cleanup on October 28 at Sebastian Surf and Sport Shop, off Highway A1A in Sebastian. This will be an event with lunch and music after the cleanup at the shop.
    • Celebrating 10th year anniversary at the Tiny Turtle, November 18th Kris has contacted Florida Today, as well as other magazines to highlight Tiny Turtle.
    • Lagoon Day. Our chapter will participate in November. More details later.
  • Secretary Report: Fran reports a meeting with Nina regarding updating our website.  Updates include events on the event calendar, linking Instagram, and adding "The Team" under "Learn" for easy access.
  • Treasurer Report: Dean reports in place of Chris (not present) of reimbursements from the movie night. Some expenditures were for BWTF, Beach Cleanup grabbers, and few other minor items.
  • Blue Water Task Force BWTF: Kris: Ballard Park is still highly contaminated. Mike will be retiring from collecting samples. He has done it long time. He will be missed. Welcome Sydney to start collecting the Goat Creek sites in September.
  • Volunteer Coordinator: Christine thanked Kris for mentoring her on the SRF software programs for emails and events.
  • Social Media Chair – Kelly and Dean will work together on our social media pages. Instagram page needs to be linked to our website.
  • Ocean Friendly Gardens– Bill (not present). Kris reports that a grant has been submitted for funds for native gardens for the City of Indialantic.
  • Ocean Friendly Restaurants – Joanie has volunteered to chair this program. Joanie requested any information Kris may have to help with planning.
  • Beach Bucket Foundation – Andy Abbott is on a road trip from the state of Florida to Maine, picking up trash! Follow him on Facebook.

 Upcoming Events

8/25 and 8/26 Special Olympics surfing event 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m, Alan Shepard Park, Cocoa Beach.  Volunteers needed to help the athletes. Volunteers registered on the Special Olympics website.

8/31 Green Gables ribbon cutting 4:30 p.m. at the Green Gables Home, US 1, Melbourne.  Green Gables is one of our Ocean Friendly Garden locations.

9/16 Waves of Emotion movie will be showing again at 7:00 p.m., Cocoa Beach First United Methodist Church.

9/20 General Meeting, Niki’s Rainbow, Sea Turtle Preservation Society will be speaking about turtle numbers for the season.

9/24 World River’s Day, Riggs Outfitters. Fun day to kayak or paddleboard on Crane Creek with a river cleanup.

 Updated/New Business

  • Still working with Kelly from Tiny turtle, to highlight & motivate other restaurants to be OFR
  • Need volunteers to help plan event for adopt A1A cleanup in October.
  • Surf Movie to be shown in Spring of 2024. John Hearin arranged a local guy’s movie about the history of surfing in Brevard County.

 General Meeting Adjourn at 7:45 p.m.