JOIN here: www.SHRC.group .... then, donate $5, $20, $100, $500 or $5000 if you can.

We are hundreds now, and proud partners of the Friends of the Summer Haven River and Summerhouse. We need thousands of members. Join ! No cost. Emails/newsletters optional. But be heard....Contact us at AskSHRC at gmail dot com.

CLICK READ MORE to learn partners, purpose and use of funds!

We are SHRC: the Summer Haven Resiliency Coalition, a volunteer-led coalition, working for over two years to support the Summer Haven River, Matanzas Inlet, Summer Haven Beaches, Pellicer Creek, AIA and other roads, and the Summerhouse area.

SHRC has a team of consultants poised to improve and adapt our initial SHRC Resiliency Plan, a work in progress.

This is where funds from this fundraiser will go.

They have previously created: (1) "Economic Case for Resilience in Tampa Bay for the Tampa Bay Partnership and (2) "Business Case for Resilience in Southeast Florida" for the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact

The deliverables from this consultant will inform future lobbying, permitting, eventual engineering drawings and applications for funding from federal, state, local, non-profit & philanthropic sources. Contact at the email address above to learn more.

This is a very large and very long term project to solidify the restoration, resilience and maintenance of our precious waterways, shorelines and coastline.

For St Augustine and north Flagler locals, visitors from everywhere and most importantly all the children that come to the Summer Haven River area, Fort Matanzas Inlet and the surrounding estuaries; you don’t just see nature, you are part of it. It is something RARE, beautiful, and worth protecting. Come visit...

The Summer Haven river flows from Fort Matanzas (a federal park) and Matanzas Inlet to the south, where it turns west and feeds the estuaries that flow into Pellicer Creek (a FL State park). Those estuaries hold the balance between the salt and fresh. Today, we see these pristine and special place slipping away, through slowly forgetting. Yet it is still, today, the kind of place that teaches patience and gives back a sense of peace every time you visit.

Don’t let your children lose the gift of sharing it with their children!

Give $5, $20, $100,or $500

Whatever you can moves us closer, together.

Images above are before and after hurricanes Ian and Nichole. Summer Haven needs PUBLIC beach parks and beach access (there are none).

History of how we got here:

This natural design was changed through dredging in 1985. Earth was moved to straighten the inland waterway, cutting a new strong Intra-coastal Waterway current flowing south. The rivers and estuaries are now left to fend for themselves. Over time,

the Summer Haven River and the Beaches of Summer Haven were forgotten, though at the time the donated private land all along the Summer Haven River and the land west of it depended on a pledge of conservation.

What began as a 2-acre knoll west of the Matanzas Inlet and the Summer Haven River was quietly expanded to more than 200 acres to become Rattlesnake Island, redirecting water, and slowly reshaping the ecosystem. The result? Storms now flood the smaller Summer Haven River with sand as its water flow reduced over time. River tidal flow is disrupted. Water quality is suffering. Wildlife patterns are shifting. Oysters, birds, turtles, dolphin, manatee are all losing their homes throughout Summer Haven. The current path forward, after decades of simply moving sand onto the beach which then fills the river with sand, is simply to let the river, the beaches and with no protections, A1A and land continue to diminish.

But this isn’t a story about loss. It’s a story about renourishment and resiliency. Nature remembers how to heal. We just have to give it the space to do so.

As coastlines all across the state are protected from ravaging storms by coastal protections and inland waterways are turned into living shorelines, Summer Haven is crying for the same support. Known coastal management used along the coast both north and south of Summer Haven have worked. It can work here also.

Your donations go through our nonprofit our partner SISLR (Southeastern Innovations for Sea Level Rise) Innovations Engine, Inc., a Florida-based 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to advancing regional resilience. SISLR supports local community groups like SHRC by leading coalition building efforts, helping people to work together and with local, state and federal agencies. This has been happening in Summer Haven for over 2 years. Our plan is in the making and we have many many more years to go. We are committed. Join us.

You don’t have to live here to love it.

You don’t have to be an expert to help save it.

You just have to believe, like we do, that some places are too rare to lose. If a river gives us wonder and joy, it deserves our care in return.

Give what you can. Share what you feel.

Contact us via email above or go to www.SHRC.Group.

Help the Summer Haven River and beaches breathe again. Don’t let them be lost from neglect.