While the Birkley Heynen Environmental Foundation will be focusing on fund raising and foundation development during our initial phase, we are excited to share that we have made our first small grant to support a paid internship to Shell the Shore.
Birkley was in the first cohort of Shell to Shore interns who worked together during the Spring semester of 2022. The experience had a profound impact on his thinking and in the personal statement he wrote when applying to graduate schools, he said.
“The largest influence on my undergraduate education has been my internship with Shell to Shore during my freshman year. Shell to Shore is a non-profit in Athens, Georgia that aims to collect wasted oyster shells from restaurants and return them to the coast to help restore habit and bolster coastal populations. Being able to see first hand how sustainable waste reduction can have such a large impact on preserving and providing for natural ecosystem services was very impactful.”
After he passed away, as a way to honor his legacy and impact on the organization, the board of Shell to Shore voted to name the internship program in his name.
We are grateful to the board members of Shell to Shore who did this as well as other partners who are funding internships in the program including UGA’s Office of Sustainability, through which Birkley was awarded a posthumous sustainability certificate, UGA’s Willson Center, and UGA’s Odum School of Ecology, through which Birkley was awarded a posthumous degree.
Photo Credit: Rinne Allen
