Dear Friends of BMC,

Thanks to you, the Bayfront Maritime Center has been able to realize its dream of offering access to boating on Presque Isle Bay to those in Erie who were left out. Over the past twenty-one years, you have made amazing things happen – over 100 boats have been built by kids and nearly 19,000 young people in Erie have been introduced to boating and the potential of a maritime career. A maritime high school program has taken root at BMC on Erie’s Bayfront where students set sail on a catamaran, take the helm, while learning the basics of navigation, sail trim, wind and weather, maneuvering a vessel, nomenclature, and safe boating. During the winter months the classroom moves inside the Bayfront Maritime Center where the boat shop becomes an experiential lab as teens learn to use hand and power tools to craft their own boats.

Over the past two decades, donors and volunteers have built BMC and its programs – the Erie High School Maritime Program, after-school programs, and the national award-winning Erie Adaptive Sailing Experience (EASE), which provides therapeutic and recreational sailing for persons with physical and mental challenges. Our largest project to date – building a historic reproduction of Erie’s 1812 Schooner Porcupine from Admiral Perry’s fleet – is now closer to completion in the BMC boat shop. This unique vessel will be deployed as a floating hands-on educational lab allowing up to 30 students at a time to pursue scientific inquiry on Presque Isle Bay and Lake Erie.

Progress at the Bayfront Maritime Center has happened because of your gifts over the years, and another giving opportunity is right around the corner. Erie Gives Day is Tuesday, August 13 from 8 am to 8 pm, a one-day online fundraising campaign where nonprofits across our region will combine to raise over $4 million for their causes and receive pro-rated matching funds from the Erie Community Foundation. To participate in Erie Gives, simply access the secure website – eriegives.org – between 8 am and 8 pm on August 13, locate Bayfront Maritime Center in the search list, and enter your credit card information.

Your donation gives the key to boating on Presque Isle Bay and the qualities of adventure, competence, and mastery, that build character and change lives. Thank you in advance for supporting BMC on Erie Gives Day, August 13.

Sincerely,

Richard Eisenberg
Executive Director

The Erie Boat, shown sailing by Dobbins Landing, was built by hundreds of BMC students.This is is a replica of the fishing boats, built in Erie around the turn of the century, that were used to place pound nets needed to harvest the abundant Blue Pike in Lake Erie. Boatbuilding fosters teamwork, problem solving, and perseverance, all tools that youth need in this century to develop valuable career skills, bolster confidence ,and a create a sense of accomplishment.