Edisto reef addition features eclectic mix of structures

Edisto reef addition features eclectic mix of structures

Although SCDNR biologists have been constructing artificial reefs for over 40 years, this deployment marked a particularly large project with a new partner: Mount Pleasant Waterworks. The water utility donated a water tower from the Old Village area of Mount Pleasant. Structures like this undergo a rigorous cleaning process to ensure they’re safe to sink.

“Repurposing our Old Village Water Tank as an artificial reef allows us the opportunity to fulfill our mission of protecting the environment,” said Mount Pleasant Waterworks General Manager Allan Clum. “We all have something at stake when it comes to water, and we’re grateful for our partnership with SCDNR as we work together to protect our natural resources.”

The reef addition also marked another successful project with the Coastal Conservation Association South Carolina (CCASC), which has provided support for 15 reef projects to date. CCA SC and their longtime partner Sea Hunt Boat Company donated 12 container boxes that were placed on the barge and funded half the costs of the barge itself and towing to the reef site.

Local Rotary elects its first millennial president. Boardrooms take note. | Opinion

By Jaclyn Boruch

Lack of boardroom diversity remains a hot-button issue for many corporate and community organizations as they face increased pressure to better reflect their stakeholders and wider society.

One organization is leading by example to increase diversity in, and beyond, its own boardroom.

The Rotary Club of Asbury Park is on the cusp of a generational shift. I was recently elected Jaclyn Boruch as the new board president. I’m 31, and have become the youngest board president in the organization’s 103-year history, as well as one of only eight women to lead Asbury Park’s premier service organization.

Founded in 1919, the Rotary Club of Asbury Park has deep roots and influence in the iconic city. Some of the very first service projects — over a century ago — demonstrate this: In 1919, Rotarians persuaded the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders to delay the rebuilding of the Main Street bridge over Deal Lake until after the summer season, avoiding inconvenience to summer visitors (who fueled the local economy). Later that year, a Rotary committee was appointed to take up the matter of improved highways between Asbury Park and New York City.

The City of Asbury Park is celebrating its 150th anniversary this summer with numerous displays and presentations, including pop-up museums. Through the decades, the Rotary Club of Asbury Park remains the most recognized service organization in the community known for its contributions to Asbury Park and neighboring towns, as well as its international service around the world.

The Rotary Club, once thought of as an exclusive “ol’ boys club,” with a membership roster of male professionals and retirees, proves otherwise. Visit the Rotary Club today, and its membership reveals diversity that is impressive and eclectic — local professionals and leaders of many ages, races, ethnicities, and backgrounds. The fabric of its membership is dense with corporate, business, and civic leaders committed to social change locally and internationally.

I plan to modernize the organization’s digital presence, operations and communications to better connect, engage and serve stakeholders. It’s an honor for me to serve the community in this capacity. Rotary has been my springboard to build relationships with influential business and community leaders — all while making a lasting difference in humanitarian, environmental, and community issues at a local, regional, and international scale.

I’m not the only millennial on the organization’s board, either.

Since 2018, Jennifer Marini, 32, vice president, TD Bank, has served as the club’s treasurer. Marini oversees the annual operating budget, prepares financial reports, and ensures the organization adheres to policies and goals under the Rotary International umbrella.

Very few networking groups or service organizations span generations, build personal connections, and solve social problems the way that Rotary does; It brings ordinary people together in extraordinary circumstances — and that’s when new ideas, opportunities and friendships thrive.

Jaclyn Boruch is the founder of Wealth Marketing Group, a marketing agency servicing highly regulated industries including financial services, healthcare, and government clients.

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The Haven’s Expansion Will Bring More Scottish Food and Live Music to Jamaica Plain

If all goes according to plan, Boston’s Jamaica Plain neighborhood could have a big Scottish restaurant with plenty of room for live music and other events come late winter 2022. Jason Waddleton of Jamaica Plain’s Scottish restaurant the Haven and the team behind the now-defunct Jamaica Plain institution Bella Luna & the Milky Way are combining their talents to open a new venue called the Haven at the Brewery, which will debut in the former Bella Luna & the Milky Way space at the Brewery complex (284 Amory St., Boston).

The Haven at the Brewery goes up before Boston’s licensing board on September 29 for a full liquor license, and Waddleton is circulating an online petition to show the board that there’s plenty of community support for the forthcoming venue. Those interested in the plan are encouraged to sign prior to Wednesday’s meeting.

Once open, the Haven at the Brewery will feature “an inspired Scottish menu incorporating a fresh and fun take on the pizza that Balla Luna was famed for — expect favorites and outside the box,” Waddleton tells Eater, “as well as elevated gastropub fare and the use of local flavors and traditions, an eclectic live music program, and a focus on whisky with weekly immersive dram nights.”

Waddleton is passionate about providing people with the opportunity to get to know Scotch whisky (“without any snobbery,” he notes), so dram nights at the new venue will include food pairings, blind tastings, and musical and visual elements that go along with the Scotch. There will also be tasting dinners with guest ambassadors from various distilleries. “Our goal is to make Scotch whisky accessible,” says Waddleton, “and to bring people and cultures together. We will have something for everyone — every taste and every price point — and we want to host events weekly that really showcase this spirit, its history and evolution, and Scottish culture.” In addition to whisky, Waddleton promises a large draft and bottle selection of beers, both local and imported.

As for the live music program, Waddleton is an accomplished booker; he’s especially well-known locally for his time cultivating a popular music scene at Matt Murphy’s in Brookline. He also started his own label, Pub Records, and produced the music for the original Sleep No More immersive theatre production in Brookline. “So I’ve nurtured local artists and booked national acts,” he says. “I want to take that experience and my own love of and history with live music to the Haven at the Brewery.” In addition to live music, the new space will host comedy nights, dance nights (“something Bella Luna was famous for,” says Waddleton), and small theatre productions, and there will be private and semi-private spaces available for corporate and social events of all kinds.

The new space offers a large patio and lots of parking. Inside, extensive renovations will result in a “very different look and feel” from the venue’s days as Bella Luna & the Milky Way. “We’re updating and moving the bar and creating new dining and lounge areas as well as a snug and whisky room,” says Waddleton. He wants to create “a new living room for Boston and JP residents and those visiting from afar.”

Bella Luna & the Milky Way closed early in the pandemic after a nearly three-decade run over several locations and concepts, starting as a small pizzeria, later moving into an old bowling alley and adding a bar and a stage, and finally ending up at the Brewery complex from 2008 to 2020, minus the bowling but with food and bar service and a huge range of public and private events and live music of all genres.

Waddleton looks forward to “bringing back the energy and vibrancy that the space was renowned for,” he tells Eater. “I am so excited to see the space come alive again! Bella Luna has been an anchor of the JP community for many years as a true community restaurant. That’s what Scottish hospitality is all about — an open door for all. It’s an honor to take those bones and offer a refreshed ‘haven’ for the neighborhood, Boston, and beyond.”

Meanwhile, fans of the original location of the Haven at 2 Perkins St. — Boston’s “Scottish headquarters” for over a decade — will be pleased to know that Waddleton intends to keep it open indefinitely. “It’s a unique and lovely location,” he says. “We’re excited to create a very different space at the Brewery complex to meet additional and evolving demands and needs of the community.”

The Haven at the Brewery should be open in time to host some events tied into the annual Burns supper, Waddleton says. (Burns events at the original Haven location are always a big hit and tend to sell out quickly.) Stay tuned for updates on an opening timeline this winter.