Sea Change…

…an expression used to denote a significant change or metamorphosis. That is what happened just days ago as we saw paddles in the air and on-line bidding that will be…life changing for our grant recipients and recipient partners. We don’t use that expression lightly, however, the surrounding communities rely on what happens with our All Charities Gala and how the Foundation’s Grants Committee distributes funds to these organizations outside the gates.

Similarly, notable changes take place within the Ocean Reef Community, especially with the All Charities recipient partners where we see valuable expansion of services. This includes, the Medical Center and their growing services, the expanded programs from the Art League, more and varied entertainment from the Cultural Center, our wonderful new Chapel with their broad spectrum of religious services, the fully subscribed Academy, the soon to be, brand new, ORCAT building and the many environmental programs and science related scholarships from the Conservation Association.

It was in a poem that begins, “Full fathom five thy father lies, of his bones are coral made” where Shakespeare used those words to describe a Sea Change. But there is also another word he uses, what exactly is a Fathom? The origin of the word did not start on the high seas, it was land based from the Anglo-Saxon word “faetm” meaning to embrace. So how did we go from “embrace” to the current meaning of the word?

Well, forgive this digression but here is how that came about. For a ship to float successfully among other things she must avoid running into water that is too shallow for her keel. Today we have GPS and Sonar but in the early days of discovery by sailing ship they needed a different method. This required the incorporation of two combined approaches to determine the waters depth. Both methods started out with a length of twine tied to a weight. On the end of the weight was usually some clay like substance. As they approached a shore, the weight was lowered until it hit the bottom. When it hit the bottom the clay would pick up any loose sediment. When back on board they would analyze what they had retrieved. Nothing on the clay, meant they were over large rocks and depending on the depth might hit one any time. Sand was probably a slower sloping bottom, mud, small rocks, broken shells, all had a different meaning depending on where they were and what was already known about the area. This would also help them decide if they were in a good area to anchor.

But prior to reading the bottom sediment they needed to retrieve this line that was attached to the weight, from the water. As it was hauled back aboard they would measure how much of the line was in the water to determine the depth. Stretching the retrieved line across their body between their outstretched arms, as if they were about to “embrace” someone,  then allowed them to count how many of these “Faetm” or  Fathoms there were in that depth of water. Since naming distances after relative lengths of body parts was all the rage in merry old England (think about 12” being a “Foot”, literally)  six feet was the average span of a mans outstretched arms from finger tip to finger tip and that became the distance for a Fathom. Even today we have charts that record the depths of the ocean in Fathoms. So in the Shakespeare play he is referencing a ship wreck that is 5 fathoms below, or 30’.

And this is all not unlike the way this Foundation wraps our arms around the surrounding communities to deliver assistance. You continue to make these changes possible and we couldn’t fathom being able to do this without your amazing and unwavering support.


NetJets
Marsh

Sea Change

See the Impact: Heartfelt Thanks from Our Community Grant Recipients

The Academy at Ocean Reef, Shaping Bright Futures