April 2024 Recap: Environmental Awareness Month presented by PG&E

During the Sharks Foundation’s April Environmental Awareness campaign presented by PG&E, monetary and volunteer support focused on environmental stewardship and sustainability efforts.

To kickstart the campaign, 50 Sharks and PG&E employees gathered alongside South Bay Clean Creeks Coalition (SBCCC) at the Guadalupe River near SAP Center to remove 3.25 tons of trash from the riverbank and surrounding area. Watch a recap of the day above!

The Sharks Foundation and the PG&E Foundation also provided SBCCC with a $20,000 Community Assist Grant to further their mission of reclaiming, restoring, and revitalizing San Jose watersheds. Since its 2013 inception, SBCCC has conducted 432 clean-ups, removing 712 tons of trash. The organization also executes an education program that brings the history of local creeks into the classroom, connecting schools to stretches of creeks in their backyard, and offers them the ability to co-adopt that creek to perform regular clean-ups under SBCCC’s supervision.

On April 5, the Sharks Foundation partnered with Pacific Catch to donate $10,000 to Save Our Shores. Members of Team Teal and Pacific Catch spent the morning cleaning Seabright Beach in Santa Cruz, collecting 34 lbs. of debris from the shoreline. The funding will support the non-profit’s efforts to foster thriving and sustainable ecosystems in Santa Cruz and Monterey Bay through equitable environmental action. To watch a recap of the clean-up, click here: https://www.nhl.com/sharks/video/topic/in-the-community/save-our-shores-2024-6351035348112

In celebration of Earth Day, the Foundation and SAP joined forces on a $50,000 grant to Save The Bay which will support their San Francisco Bay Habitat Restoration/Environmental Education in Shoreline Classrooms program; specifically to provide half-day fieldtrips to the shoreline for 1,500 K-12, Title 1 students to integrate storytelling and games to inspire a personal connection with the Bay and a desire to protect it. Students will explore topics such as endangered species and climate change and help restore tidal marsh while applying STEM and experiential learning concepts.

In addition to the grant funds, on April 24 volunteers from SAP and the Sharks joined Save The Bay’s Habitat Restoration Team at All American Canal in Menlo Park to help protect our marshes from invasive plants which degrade habitats by crowding out the California native species that our landscapes and wildlife have adapted to live with. The crew pulled nearly 300 lbs. of invasive plant species to make way for native plants which support healthy salt marsh ecosystems. Click here to view a recap of the event: https://www.nhl.com/sharks/video/save-the-bay-marsh-restoration-6351995637112

In total, the Sharks Foundation and their collaborating team partners PG&E, the PG&E Foundation, Pacific Catch, and SAP, distributed $80,000 to local environmental-focused non-profits and impacted 4,731 lives through the April campaign!