Deep Well and Bluffton Self Help Receive Food, Cash Contributions from Tradition Hilton Head

The Deep Well and Bluffton Self Help received hundreds of food items and $600 from Tradition Hilton Head on Tuesday, helping the charitable organizations assist needy families during the holiday season and unusually difficult economic times.

Nearly 800 items of non-perishable food items were delivered to the organizations, along with $300 each, on Tuesday, December 16, bringing the total of donated food items to nearly 1,800 from Tradition Hilton Head’s two recent Holiday Home Tours.

The charitable organizations said the contributions are doubly significant now, during a recession and the holiday season.

“I have been with Deep Well for eight years now, and I haven’t seen a Christmas with more families needing help,” said Lynn Dezeeuw, the Hilton Head-based organization’s president. “These contributions could not have come at a better time. This is a God send.”

Marty Sauls, public relations director for Tradition Hilton Head, said the community wanted to make an extra effort to help people in an economically difficult time.

“These are tough times for people, and we all need to pitch in,” Sauls said as he helped unload two SUVs loaded with food items donated at Dec. 13’s home tours. “With so many families in need of food and clothing, we all need to pull together.”

Linda Kaufman, president-elect of Bluffton Self Help, said she appreciates Tradition Hilton Head stepping up to help families throughout the Lowcountry.

“We are grateful for everything Tradition has done,” she said. “We have a volunteer who heard about us through Tradition and now is working with us three or four days a week.”

A total of approximately 1,200 people who toured model homes at Tradition Hilton Head on Nov. 22 and Dec. 13 were invited to donate a food item to receive a gift certificate for a complimentary round of golf at the community’s Traditional National Golf Club. Most of the visitors brought several items of food each, Sauls said. Visitors also were registered to win a year’s membership to Tradition National Golf Club.

Tradition Hilton Head’s Eco-Friendly Water Reuse Partnership with BJWSA is First of Its Kind in S.C.

Tradition Hilton Head, a 5,300-acre, master-planned, sustainable green community, has joined with the Beaufort-Jasper Water & Sewer Authority to provide the water utility’s first water reuse service for residential irrigation here.

While BJWSA has been a leader in reusing reclaimed water for irrigation of commercial areas and golf courses, Tradition Hilton Head is its first residential reuse project. BJWSA will supply reclaimed water for all of Tradition Hilton Head’s irrigation needs, including residential lots, common areas, landscaped medians and the community’s 18-hole Tradition National Golf Club.

“We are excited to join with Beaufort-Jasper Water & Sewer Authority in this green and environmentally friendly initiative, which exemplifies Tradition Hilton Head’s efforts and commitment to being sustainable and green,” said Bob Swift, General Manager of Tradition Hilton Head.

“Our parent company, Core Communities, has a long and distinguished history of reclaiming water for irrigation of public green areas and golf courses as a significant way to conserve water,” Swift said. “Tradition Hilton Head reuses not only collected stormwater runoff for irrigation but also water recovered from BJWSA’s treatment plant - water that has been treated to standards that allows safe reuse.

“Essentially, treated water from BJWSA will supplement the stormwater runoff we collect at Tradition Hilton Head,” he said, noting that reclaimed rainwater is used for irrigating residential lots, public green spaces and Tradition National Golf Club, in addition to keeping lakes and lagoons filled.

The Tradition irrigation system is not only a BJWSA first, but the first system of its type in South Carolina, according to BJWSA. In the hot, humid Lowcountry climate, irrigation causes a huge increase in water usage during the summer months, and water reuse for residential irrigation is a significant step forward in using an alternative water source and reducing the peak demand on our drinking water system, BJWSA officials said.

For many years, BJWSA has been providing treated wastewater to golf courses for much needed irrigation — a win-win solution for this water-hungry industry. BJWSA serves 12 golf courses overall.