Mary Beth Sutton, executive director and Brooke Fleeman, assistant director at a recent Save Water Drink Wine event
Robert Blenker, Board Member awaits his turn to speak while Adam Pierce, Board President welcomes guests
Students from Hardy Elementary search for life in the wetland at Enterprise South Nature Park
20 year timeline
Chattanooga’s own watershed protection nonprofit, WaterWays celebrates its 20th anniversary today, April 29. To honor the work that has gone before and to sustain the work for the next 20 years and beyond, the WaterWays Board of Directors announced the establishment of an endowment fund, the WaterWays Sustainability Fund, which will be housed with the Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga.
Longtime board member Robert Blenker will offer the first gift of stock to kick off the fund. “It is astounding to witness the growth of this nonprofit from the glimpse of an idea into a thriving organization specializing in education and restoration of our streams and rivers. The staff is doing an incredible job and I want to support them long-term.”
“After much research, we chose the Community Foundation because of their great reputation and the incredible breadth of services they provide," said Mary Beth Sutton, executive director of WaterWays. "With a small staff, that was a critical piece to the Board’s decision. It is so exciting to make this leap forward on our 20th anniversary. We like to say we started as a ripple 20 years ago…..and now we’re making waves.”
Back in 2004, WaterWays started as Caribbean Student Environmental Alliance( Caribbean SEA for short) to empower kids and communities to protect and restore their watersheds from Ridge to Reef. Just a few years later, it was requested for them to do the same in this region. Caribbean SEA rebranded to WaterWays in 2019 to better reflect its mission and to enhance the goal of Clean Water for Healthy Communities. While WaterWays foundation is environmental education, its aim is to inspire positive actions for streams and rivers throughout our communities.
Its offices are at its outdoor gear resale shop, The Gear Closet, on Signal Mountain Road.
For more information, please contact Ms. Sutton at marybeth@mywaterways.org or visit www.mywaterways.org.