SOLitude offers free lake and pond restoration for select nonprofits
SOLitude Lake Management is accepting nominations for free waterbody makeover services through the company's Love Your Lake program. The annual initiative aims to support nonprofit charities and foundations in dire need of recreational lake and pond restoration, with the goal of improving outdoor experiences for disadvantaged or special needs children, disabled individuals or veterans and service members.
The effort is backed by The SOLution, a company-wide program that encourages SOLitude staff to strive to create a better world through volunteerism, community outreach, sustainability and environmental consciousness. SOLitude's leadership feels it is important to not only be good stewards of the environment, but also to fulfill company core values to take action and be accountable, and to protect and respect nature.
A Love Your Lake nominee must be considered a nonprofit with a waterbody that serves as a centerpiece for foundation activities. The selected lake or pond suffering from severe aquatic weeds and algae, sedimentation, nutrient loading or associated problems will receive in-kind services and donations necessary to make the waterbody functional and beautiful again.
Since the program began in 2013, SOLitude has helped restore and rejuvenate waterbodies belonging to summer camps for children with life-threatening illnesses, fishing properties used for veteran rehabilitation, and recreational facilities for wounded veterans and their families, throughout the country.
Most recently, SOLitude provided pond restoration services for Lancaster Children's Home in Lancaster, S.C. The organization provides safe, stable, nurturing and home-like environments for abused, abandoned or neglected children. Each year, more than 100 children are cared for on LCH's 124-acre property, which contains a 1.25-acre pond used for fishing and other recreational activities.
SOLitude designed, installed and provided pro bono maintenance services for a new aeration system to help limit the algae and watermeal that had historically plagued the waterbody. SOLitude's partner, OASE Living Water, donated the three diffuser subsurface aeration systems, along with a ½ HP floating fountain outfitted with decorative lights, and various types of beneficial bacteria products designed to balance nutrient levels in the waterbody. In total, the project value equated to nearly $7,300.
"[SOLitude's] generous work helped us provide a safe haven for children in need," said Melanie Harper, LCH administrative assistant. "The donation goes a long way toward giving them every opportunity to have a happy, safe and healthy life."
Since 2012, SOLitude has donated more than $255,000 in goods and in-kind services, and contributed 9,457 volunteer hours to local communities across the country.
To nominate a nonprofit for the Love Your Lake program, go to www.solitudelakemanagement.com/loveyourlake.
