Friends of Exuma Chamberlin Owen

Friends of Exuma helps support two primary bahamian non-profit organizations, the elizabeth harbor conservation partnership and the bahamian national trust. Their collaborative mission is to help conserve the natural beauty, ecological integrity, cultural heritage , and safety of elizabeth harbor; as well as develop the new mariah harbor cay national park. The primary goal is to support the sustainable development of the waters and coastline of elizabeth harbor while enhancing tourism, fisheries, and recreational use of this important national resource.

The l.n. Coakley high school maintains an agricultural farm program and has a school farm facility for teaching practical skills that emphasize innovative climate-smart/sustainable growing methods and technologies. With the support of Friends of Exuma, the program is helping to: 1.) Renovate existing shade houses, including new bracing and protective fencing utilizing more durable materials; 2.) Install four new shade houses that can be used for crop production and/or chickens. 3.) Upgrade the water system to include a pressure pump and additional water storage. Construct a composting system to reduce dependency on outside inputs for building soil fertility in raised beds. 5.) Create an overall farm design for continued expansion and development. 6.) Establish an ongoing maintenance program that engages young farmers from the community in activities on the farm.

The Exuma sailing club is an after school and weekend sailing program that serves approximately 35 teenage boys between the ages of 10 and 18. The program includes weekly on water sailing clinics as well as participation in several sailing regattas throughout the bahamas. Our contributions were used for repair and maintenance of the club's sailboat fleet as well as a monthly stipend for the club's director. The Exuma sailing club is a well established organization founded by dallas knowles in 2013.

Nine additional programs-refer to schedule f