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The Oyster Recovery Partnership welcomes YOU, our fellow partners and supporters, to join us in our movement to restore our native oyster and bring back our beloved Bay. This packet details a variety of activities and sponsorship opportunities we offer. After reviewing it, please contact us to discuss your specific needs and budget. We’re fun, flexible, and committed to the Chesapeake Bay!
**COVID-19 has affected many of our event and volunteer activities. Please contact Allison Albert Guercio, Marketing Manager: aaguercio@oysterrecovery.org for more info regarding available opportunities.
ORP has been dedicated to growing the environmental and economic value of oysters in Maryland for more than 25 years. We believe that everyone benefits from a healthy Chesapeake Bay, that poor water quality and declining habitats can be reversed, and that oysters are the answer.
ORP has become the leader in oyster restoration, planting 8.5 billion oysters and recycled over 200,000 bushels of shell, working with a broad collaboration of government agencies, nonprofits, educational institutions, businesses and conservation-minded partners like you. See how you can join us!
Underwrite one of these popular oyster programs:
Gain recognition for your far-reaching commitment to Bay restoration by sponsoring the Marylanders Grow Oysters program. Thousands of waterfront homeowners will care for cages of young oysters sponsored by your business. Hundreds of thousands of boaters and paddlers will see your logo on signage at these private growing sites. Over the past 10 years, this extremely popular program has grown to include hundreds of homeowners and businesses, producing 5 million oysters for restoration in 37 Maryland creeks and rivers.
Expand your brand and showcase your company as a leader in Chesapeake Bay sustainability by sponsoring our shell recycling restaurant program. With 350+ member restaurants, 70 public shell drop-off sites, and 100 annual shell recycling events throughout the Mid-Atlantic, the possibilities are endless with this high-visibility marketing opportunity. Benefits include your logo on program trucks, shell recycling containers and signage, restaurant marketing materials and so much more.
Demonstrate your commitment to your local community and clean water by sponsoring a Build-A-Reef campaign in your watershed. These grassroots reef-building projects are extremely popular and represent high-visibility opportunities for you to showcase your business as providing real, tangible benefits to area citizens and the environment. Promotional opportunities include press conferences, community meetings, restaurant events and prime-time promotion at the public reef planting.
Build business, boost awareness, rise above competition, and break into new markets through a brand partnership with ORP. Together, we’ll work to create an oyster or Bay-focused product experience that will leave a lasting impression on your target market, while supporting oysters restoration projects. We’ve built successful partnerships with well-known names in the beer, wine, coffee and apparel industries that continue to work with us year after year.
Check out some of our brand partners here.
Shuck Like A Pro is a fun, hands-on workshop for businesses looking to engage their staff or clients with a fun team building event. Led by an ORP master shucker, this event can be hosted at your place of business or one of our restaurant partners. It’s all tailored to fit your needs and goals! In addition to learning how to shuck, your group will enjoy an engaging presentation on how recycled shells help oyster restoration efforts.
Whether you want to simply learn about oyster restoration or go all out and get your hands dirty, these fun, highly-interactive, fully customizable team-building options normally include an activity and a presentation about ORP’s work to restore the Chesapeake Bay oyster population. Dates, times, and locations are flexible, though outdoor venues often provide the best experience. ORP provides all necessary supplies and training. If your group can travel, then we would love to host your event at our field site in Cambridge, MD, and incorporate a private tour of the UMCES Horn Point Oyster Hatchery. It’s a fascinating operation and well worth the trip!
Oyster Cage Building
Your team will assemble the oyster-growing cages that are distributed to homeowners participating in the MGO program. This 1 ½ – 2 hour activity involves bending precut, safety-coated wire mesh into cage-shape, then securing with pliers and clamp rings, and adding rope and an MGO tag. No heavy lifting required. Group size limited to 30.
Oyster Shell-Bagging
A fast-paced, physical activity for the competitive crew, shell-bagging involves shoveling oyster shells into mesh bags. The bags are later seeded with oyster larvae and distributed to MGO participating homeowners to grow from their docks. Heavy lifting required. Timing varies for this activity based on group size.
Assist our Shell Recycling Alliance (SRA) crew with collecting oyster shells from restaurants in Maryland, DC, or northern VA. Oyster shell is the best material to rebuild reefs and is in short supply. The SRA ensures that “no shell is left behind” and helps restaurants reduce their waste collection fees. For some added fun and to boost engagement, we incorporate a mobile scavenger hunt. This activity takes place during regular business hours (M-F 9 am – 5 pm). Some heavy lifting required. Group size accommodation varies by location, but is limited to 15.
Located in beautiful Cambridge, Maryland, the Horn Point Oyster Hatchery tour and skipjack outing is the ultimate group experience. This outing is a great way to see and learn about our oyster restoration work first hand sailing the open waters of the Choptank River on one of the region’s few remaining skipjacks. Your team will even plant baby oysters onto protected sanctuaries. Talk about directly supporting the Chesapeake Bay! This activity could include lunch, libations and fresh oysters dredged up right from the Bay. Group size limited to 20 per sail. Groups of up to 40 could be accommodated in separate, simultaneous outings.
All of the fun and excitement from the above with an added visit to a nearby protected oyster sanctuary, where your group will be credited with adding thousands of baby oysters to the Chesapeake Bay. Show your commitment to the environment by sponsoring bags of baby oysters, that your team will work together to deploy overboard. After the planting, we will provide you with your oyster planting and water filtering totals that you can proudly display in a group photo. These oysters will grow to provide critical ecosystem services all thanks to your company!
are a great way to bring the fun to you. We’ll work with you to create an event that meets your goals and suits your needs. Examples include in-house shucking demos, hands on shucking workshops, oyster happy hours or socials, Chesapeake Bay trivia, education presentations — you name it!
If your business offers supplies or services that compliment our mission, then we would love to
