Members and guests were welcomed to the meeting at Palmera Inn and Suites by President Kristin Keller
 
Announcements:
 
Bluffton Oyster Roast this weekend - Saturday January 29.  Tickets can be gotten online at Blufftonrotary.org or at the "door".
 
District Conference - the All Club Conference will be held March 11 - 13 at the Sonesta here in Hilton Head Island
 
Visitors Brittany Anderson and Corey Smith from the Leadership class were welcomed.
 
The Club Foundation Chair, Greg Wynn recognized John Farrenkopf as our newest Major Donor.  A Major Donor has contributed $10,000 to The Rotary Foundation.  Congratulations John and thank you for your support of our charity, The Rotary Foundation.
 
Scholarship applications will be available.  This is for Hilton Head Island students only and is for $10,000 over 4 years.
 
Suzi Oliver gave an update on the National Cemetery.
 
Suzi, the Sergeant at Arms collected Happy $$$.
 
Speaker:
Our speaker was Jessica Kochman, Naturalist and Education Coordinator from the Port Royal Sound Foundation. 
The mission of the the foundation "is to preserve the Port Royal Sound for the environmental, cultural and economic well-being of our area." It is a 501C3 non-profit.  Nearly halt of South Carolina's marshes, and estimated 200,000 acres are in the Port Royal Sound area. 
 
On average, salt marshes in Beaufort county provide $363 million/year in coastal protection by reducing the impacts of storm surge and flooding.  We are unique in that the area is an "inland Sea".  There are many rivers, but not really rivers, they are "salty fingers" reaching in 20 miles. The economic impact is the Beaufort county's thriving tourism industry generated  $1.48 billion in economic impact by bringing nearly 3 million visitors to the region in 2018. A healthy Port Royal Sound equals a healthy community affecting home values, businesses, jobs, environment, recreation and way of life.  The Maritime Center opened in 2014 and is focused on Education, Research and Preservation.   Education - field trips,daily programs, Sound vision webinars, summer camp, story time, art programming, and events.  Research - offering money for researchers to come and learn what is happening here, recently became part of the Adopt a Stream program, MOTUS wildlife tracking system, 2022 PRS Research Symposium and 2022 State of the Sound report which will be on February 11.   For more information visit: www.portroyalsoundfoundation.org