Paddling Coasts For a Cause-Beachwalkers Following the Nation's Beaches and Raising Awareness for Clean Water.

www.Waterkeeper.org - An environmental advocate, Waterkeeper Alliance has 172 local programs that protect and monitor watershed quality worldwide.

www.WaterAid.org - A humanitarian advocate, WaterAid works in 17 countries enabling the world’s poorest people to gain access to sustainable clean water, sanitation, and hygiene solutions.

Both organizations proactively address the human and environmental costs of the global water crisis.

More of the story...On June 7th, 2007 Stein Kretsinger, Robert Weinman and Evelyn Weinman completed a five month, 1600 mile voyage between Miami, Florida and Manhattan Island, NY traveling along the Atlantic coast by foot and kayak.

Paddling on the ocean among sharks, dolphins and whales the team worked in cooperation with Waterkeeper Alliance®, to unite coastal communities under the common goal of keeping their regional watersheds clean. The project empowered children and youth as ambassadors to deliver a positive environmental stewardship message to their communities.

Under the name of Beachwalk Project the venture generated national and local media attention for Waterkeeper Alliance® with interviews on: CNN, ABC, NBC and CBS and articles in national publications including: Pacific Daily News, The Chronicle of Philanthropy and Paddler Magazine.

Beachwalk Project has now become a 3 year, clean water awareness project which will travel the major coastlines of the United States by foot and kayak. Begun in February 2007 with the 1600 mile trek up the Atlantic Coast; the project will be paddling Guam (March 2008), the Pacific Coast: Seattle to San Diego (July-Sept 2009), the Great Lakes (Summer 2010) and the Gulf Coast (2010).

“This venture is intended to unite communities.” says Kretsinger. “We have the unique privilage to share time with members of coastal communities along every route and help raise environmental awareness on a local and national level.”