The Outside Foundation Receives Non-Profit Status

Local organization, The Outside Foundation, announced today that it has been granted 501 (c) Non-Profit Status. The Foundation’s mission is to get kids outside and preserve and protect the local environment. The board of The Foundation includes: Ernst Bruderer (Chairman), Dr. Jean Fruh (Executive Director), Dr. John Batson, Daniel Thomas, Mike Overton, Peter Cram and Mark Messier.

Children today are spending about half as much time outdoors as they did twenty years ago. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, kids aged 8-18, devote an average of 7 hours and 38 minutes a day to using multimedia (PDA’s, TV and video games). Childhood obesity rates have doubled over the last 20 years. The Outside Foundation was created in a response to the growing need to encourage children to engage in outdoor activities and explore our local ecosystem. The most direct route to caring for the environment as an adult, is participating in nature-based activities as a child.

The Outside Foundation is proud to assist in the delivery of the local ‘Kid’s in Kayaks’ program in partnership with Beaufort County Public Schools and The Port Royal Sound Foundation. “Since 2001, the ‘Kids in Kayaks’ program has provided an opportunity for almost 4,000 sixth, seventh, and eighth graders to climb into kayaks and explore our local waterways with a naturalist guide” said Dr. Jean Fruh. “One of the primary goals of the Foundation is to make sure every student who desires to participate in this program can, and to provide the equipment, access, and trained volunteers to ensure that the program continues.”

In addition to the ‘Kids in Kayaks’ program, The Outside Foundation participates in the Shelter Cove Marina recycling initiative. The Foundation also helps to organize an annual shoe drive in collaboration with Outside Hilton Head and Soles4Souls. Other initiatives include bi-annual kayak clean-ups of the Broad Creek, and the Wooden Nickel initiative to eliminate single use shopping bags.

The Outside Foundation is a local non-profit with a mission to get kids outside and to protect and preserve our local environment. The Foundation is dedicated to creating awareness, expanding knowledge, and developing a responsible understanding of nature and the environment. Ongoing projects of the Foundation include trash clean-ups by kayak, donation programs and the Kids in Kayaks program, which aims to get every 7th grader in Beaufort County out kayaking.