West Marine Awards Grants to 29 Youth Boating Organizations

Watsonville, California-based marine equipment retailer West Marine announced that it will present $1,500 checks from its BlueFuture Fund to support 29 youth boating nonprofit organizations across North America.

Among others, the winning nonprofit organizations include Kama’aina Kids, which offers kayaking and other water sports to youth in Kailua, Hawaii; The Sea Scouts of Galveston, Texas; Challenge the Wind Youth Sailing Program in Detroit, Michigan; and Kids Can Fish Too!, which teaches fishing basics to children from ages 5 to 12 in Port Orange, Florida.

“We’re very excited to support such an assortment of outstanding youth boating organizations,” says Deb Radcliff, West Marine Senior Vice President of Marketing. “It’s terrific to see all of the great work they are doing introducing a love of boating, fishing and water sports across the country.”

One of the grant recipients was The Alameda Community Sailing Center. Located on the east shore of San Francisco Bay, ACSC is just finishing up its third year of youth sailing camps. “We are delighted to receive this grant from West Marine’s Blue Future Fund,” says Kame Richards, Board President of ACSC. “This summer we have put 140 kids out on the water for a total of 9,800 hours of wear and tear on our JY Trainers and CFJs, not including the hours added to our safety boat fleet. This money will be split between scholarships for our deserving youth and maintenance of our fleet. It has come at an exceptionally good time for us.”

The full list of winning organizations is available at westmarine.com/BlueFuture/Youth-Boating.

West Marine’s BlueFuture Fund supports marine conservation, sustainable fisheries and youth boating. On June 8, the company earmarked a percentage of all sales made at West Marine retail stores to be donated to the Blue Future Fund, totaling $70,000.

For more information on the BlueFuture Fund, visit www.westmarine.com/bluefuture.