Charleston Waterkeeper makes a SPLASH with the Sullivan’s Island Library

As the temperatures soared above 100 degrees, Charleston Waterkeeper beat the heat this summer with The Sullivans Island Library’s “Make a Splash with Reading” program. On July 27th, our education volunteer Natalie Taylor joined about 12 kids ranging in ages from 3-9 years old to talk about what it means to be a “Charleston Waterkeeper Water Warrior” in the Lowcountry. Librarian Linda began the morning by reading some water related books to the children, including  Wave by Suzy Lee and with a summer full of watery memories the kids were excited to hear and share stories of adventures on the coast.

After story time Natalie, armed with her basket of tricks, pulled out a beach ball globe of the world and as the kids gathered around they discussed how much of our world is covered by water and why it is important to take care of our own waterways. Many of the kids had their own stories of beach walks picking up litter with their parents or seeing dolphins and other marine life in our Charleston waterways. We are always inspired to see and hear this younger generation of “Water Warriors” speak about the coastlines, beaches, and waters they love and learning about what they do to keep them safe and clean. The lesson of the day was clear: you are never too young or too old to join in the effort to protect your right to clean water.

Each child concluded the event by making a crayon relief watercolor drawing of what they hoped our Charleston waterways would look like with our help and protection. The drawings created displayed their love and dreams for their waters with everything from SCUBA diving litter patrols to schools of brightly colored smiling fish gliding on the currents. They painted a beautiful picture of what our waters could look like… and with their help, those imaginings can become a reality.

Many thanks to the Sullivan’s Island Library and Linda Rumph for hosting us!

Stay tuned as we continue to develop our “Water Warrior” education curriculum. If you are an educator or parent, email Natalie for details about having Charleston Waterkeeper present to your school or group: [email protected].