Gervais Street Bridge Dinner doesn’t fund Congaree Riverkeeper

The recent article regarding the proposed Lexington County Chamber of Commerce dinner on the Lake Murray Dam (“Lexington Chamber plans community dinner on the dam”) mentioned that the Gervais Street Bridge Dinner supports local charities with “particular focus on those organizations working to improve the health of the area’s rivers.”

This seems to be a popular misunderstanding.

While the Gervais Street dinner does support some river-related charities, none of them currently is focused on water-quality issues.

The leading local charitable organization focused on improving water quality of our Midlands rivers is Congaree Riverkeeper.

We have worked hard over the past 10 years monitoring and reporting on water-quality problems, took action to remove illegal discharges on the Saluda River, helped establish the only inland weekly recreational water-quality monitoring program in the state and are actively working to remove the coal tar from the Congaree River below the Gervais Street bridge.

While we assisted with and received proceeds from the first bridge dinner in 2015 and received some in 2016, we have not received any proceeds since.

Our organization fully supports the Gervais Street Bridge Dinner as a way to bring our communities together and to support local river-related charities, such as the River Alliance, which enhances public access by building river walks, and Canoeing for Kids, which provides river experiences for disadvantaged children.

However, we are no longer on the list of charities to receive proceeds from the dinner.

For those interested in clean water and healthy rivers, please visit our website at congareeriverkeeper.org.

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