Lightning Foundation Award

Hey there sports fans...(you'll get the pun later). Hope everyone had wonderful holiday season and you ate sweets to your heart's content! Thank goodness neoprene is stretchy, am I right?

Nevertheless, Reef Monitoring has a lot to be thankful for going into our new year. Our very own Dr. Heyward Mathews was recognized as the 22nd Lightning Community Hero this season!

He was honored at the home game on January 8, 2019 during the first period. He received a $50,000 donation from the Lightning Foundation and the Lightning Community Heroes program, and will donate the money to the Reef Monitoring Inc. and our partners at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium.

You can check out the whole press release here.

Dr. Heyward Mathews becomes the 345th Lightning Community Hero since Jeff and Penny Vinik introduced the Lightning Community Hero program in 2011-12 with a $10 million, five-season commitment to the Tampa Bay community. Through this evening's game, in total, the Lightning Foundation has granted $17.35 million to more than 400 different nonprofits in the Greater Tampa Bay area. During the summer of 2016, the Vinik's announced that the community hero program will give away another $10-million over the next five seasons.

Stay tuned for all our great work he have planned for 2019 and as always, thanks for all the support!