My Nonprofit Reviews

The Reef Ball Foundation is a wonderful charity to support. Their work not only benefits the environment, but carries an exponential benefit to local communities. I feel incredibly fortunate to be involved in the Reef Ball project at Paradise Cove on Grand Bahama. This project was completed in 2015 and is the largest contiguous reef ball reef in The Bahamas, containing over 300 reef balls. The installation of the reef balls on the south coast of the island not only serves as a viable way to restore shoreline, it also serves as a functional classroom for youths to learn about the marine environment. As someone who works with educating and mentoring young people, this project was, and still is an invaluable initiative to engage youths in various areas of learning.
I have also come to realize through firsthand experience that The Reef Ball Foundation genuinely cares about the sustainability of their projects through education, support and awareness, and for me that is really important. During the installation of the Grand Bahama project, we involved local youths in every step of the process from the start to finish. The Foundation allowed us to bring in student groups to assist with the preparation of the reef balls before deployment, the installation of the balls into the water and the preparation and planting of the coral plugs. We had community service groups, science clubs and college students all working on the project at various stages. The Reef Ball Foundation Chairman, Todd Barber even came on site to meet with the volunteer teams and work side by side with the children.
After the project was completed, we engaged local students to carry out coral growth and fish surveys on a regular basis. Once again, the Foundation assisted with providing expertise as to how we might go about using the site for ongoing data collection and connected us with the tools and organizations necessary to carry out these educational initiatives. The reef ball site has now become a popular place for school field trips and summer youth camps to visit, as it provides the children with a wonderful place to see marine life, enjoy themselves and learn about their environment all at the same time.
The Reef Ball Foundation is doing amazing work, and I am proud to be an ongoing volunteer for this Foundation.