The Facts
Published May 7, 2006The Friends of the River San Bernard recently wrote a mission statement and set bylaws. The advocacy group for the river is closer to gaining official status as a nonprofit organization after checking off most items on a long list set by federal government regulations.
“We started formalizing the group with the first public meeting on Feb. 24, and everything has gotten accomplished at a great speed,” the group’s treasurer Nancy Kanter said.
Kanter said a lawyer, Lynn Klement, is working for the group pro bono, and the necessary paperwork needed to become a corporation in Texas, a requirement to gain non-profit status, should be filed this week. Afterward, the group will file with the Internal Revenue Service. The process should be completed by July, she said.
“There are several other friends-of-the-river organizations that have non-profit status,” Kanter said. “So, I think that there shouldn’t be any problems.”
To restore, protect, promote and ensure a clean, healthy, flowing San Bernard river is a mission statement advocates cannot uphold with simple fund-raisers, Kanter said.
“A lady asked at the last meeting how many pencils we are going to have to sell,” Kanter said with a laugh. “We are going to have to do something else besides sell pencils. We are going to have to raise major funds.”
Members say that non-profit status allows the organization to apply for grants that will help pay for expensive endeavors such as funding a comprehensive study needed to open the river’s mouth, one of the group’s major projects.
The group wants to remove excess sand from the mouth to improve commerce and reduce the chance of flooding along the river banks, but members need to raise $200,000 to $250,000 for a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers study that must be completed before dredging can begin.
“One scenario to fund the study would be that the government would pay half of the cost, the county a fourth and our organization would also have to pay a fourth,” Kanter said. “Grants would allow us to do things like this.”
Jan Edwards, a group member, said that after gaining non-profit status the group will act as a communication device between the counties the river runs through.
The San Bernard River is the only river in the county that is not overseen by a river authority, and the group wants to step into that role to act as a liaison, Edwards said.
“I’m glad that we are getting as far as we are going, and I think it is going to be a good thing for the community,” Edwards said.
The group started about a year ago with a petition and an idea to bring a sense of community for the people who live along the river, Edwards said. Now, as the group gains popularity, she thinks they need to make their status official.
“It is important for us to stand up and form some sort of organization,” Edwards said.
Bridget Brown is a reporter for The Facts. Contact her at (979) 237-0149