2016 End of Year Appeal

It’s time to think about water. Our Southeastern streams dried up during this drought and many communities were on severe water restrictions. Our mountains burned. We are so thankful for these first rainy days in months, but our need to protect our water will never end. Will you help?

From elementary school students and cub scouts to Master’s Students, SEA invests much time, energy and enthusiasm to engage them to be better stewards of our water. Forest Kindergartners at Red Bank Elementary investigate “their” creek every day they are outside. When we first started working with this school, the students did not know the creek existed right in their own backyard. Now, they say it is “their” creek.   They were happy for the recent rain, but really wished the creek didn’t transform into a raging muddy river. As the kindergartners said, we need clean water so “more animals can live and drink water so they won’t die” and so we can “Save the crawdads!”


In San Mateo, Belize, there REALLY is NO away.  When they flush the toilet or sit in the outhouse, the waste drops directly under their home. The neighboring wealthy community of San Pedro uses San Mateo as their dump.  Want to guess what’s in their water?  We train San Mateo kids, like Myrna and her brother, Dixon, as citizen scientists at our Kids 4 Clean Water camp.  When we first met Myrna, she was a quiet 9 year old girl taking care of lots of siblings, particularly her youngest brother, whose body was covered with sores and ringworm. Now Myrna is 14 and one of our student leaders in San Mateo. This year, they got the attention of the Water Company and Red Cross when they presented their map of HOMES whose tap water was contaminated. Health concerns from dirty water are REAL in San Mateo, Belize.

From Belize to Chattanooga, water should be clean and available to all. That’s what our goal is and you can help us achieve it. Can you help Myrna and the Kindergarteners at Red Bank Elementary take care of our water? Please consider a donation this holiday season to help us provide clean water for others.

Thank you so much!
With best regards,
Mary Beth H. Sutton
Executive Director