The Coos Bay Chapter was recently awarded Travel Oregon's
Outstanding Oregon Tourism Volunteer Award, part of their 2014 Travel and Tourism Industry Achievement Awards, which recognizes the significant commitment by an individual or a group of individuals who exemplify the positive impact volunteers have on Oregon’s travel and tourism industry and the state’s economy.
Chapter Co-Founders Annie Pollard (Volunteer Coordinator) and Carmen Matthews (Past Chair, current BWTF Coordinator)
The award was presented to the Coos Bay Chapter, "a group of admirable advocates for the ocean and environment" for all the great work they've done in their community, from cleaning up the monstrous foam mess at
Lighthouse Beach, to starting the first
Surfrider youth club in the state.
Chapter co-founder Carmen Matthews put it best: “For a chapter that is so new to be making strides like this really speaks to the hard work everyone in our chapter has put forth to show how much we care about our local beaches.”