Angel Charity Highlight: Pro2tect
In this series, we will highlight Angel’s partner charities and their incredible teams and programs. All charities in this series have taken a revolutionary step toward sustainable giving; a direction we believe is the future of a better world.
Today, the spotlight is on Pro2tect, where we’ll get your questions answered by the charity’s own Darren Fryer about how you can make a difference.
What is Pro2tect?
Professional Skimboarder and philanthropist, Darren Fryer lives for the ocean. With a passion for the water and the power of liquid therapy, he’s developed an innovative nonprofit, Pro2tect, that joins the two worlds of technology and ocean conservation. As a Hawaiian, Darren understands and has become accustomed to the importance of taking care of our environment. This said, he found himself disappointed by the technology that was being leveraged to combat the problems at hand. So Darren took it into his own hands and focused his life on conserving our oceans, starting with those surrounding the Islands of Hawaii.
On Maui, Pro2tect hosts weekly reef clean-up missions where they bring scuba volunteers on a boat to heavily fished reefs to collect fishing lines and debris and prevent sea turtle entanglements. The non-profit also does search and upcycle beach cleans along Maui’s shorelines for ghost nets washed up that can be collected and upcycled into their resin art. On the largest island in the archipelago, Big Island, Pro2tect has a full-time operation near Kamilo Beach on the southeast shoreline where their partner Don Elwing collects ghost nets and creates upcycled art, sends it to artists in NYC and brings it to schools around Big Island for upcycled arts and crafts.
Pro2tect harnesses the power and potential of technology too. They are 70% of the way complete with their mobile app game called “Trash Slash” which is modelled to be free and as addictive as fruit ninja. The ad revenue from the users will fund conservation operations and help the company expand to all major Hawaiian Islands and eventually Worldwide as the game spreads across the planet.
Pro2tect is on the cusp of making its first investment into Europe and onto land. Their Pro2tect & Amira Global Pryolisis plant in Europe, more specifically the land-locked country of Switzerland, will help convert plastic waste into a sustainable biofuel and source of electricity. The company has plans in 2022 to start building one of these plants in Hawaii and in 2023 will build one on a self-sustaining ship that can circumnavigate the Pacific garbage patches and convert the plastic waste into energy.
What will my contribution provide to your organization — and to the ocean?
Simply? Donations go into the physical effort of the work that is being done right now. There’s a lot of moving parts and risks that go into this project as reef clean-ups are no small feat. It costs nearly $2,000 for each trip and volunteer scuba divers sometimes put their lives in costly situations in order to bring up as much trash and debris as possible. Donations will cover the costs of scuba diving so that their crew can spend as much time as possible cleaning the ocean. The goal is to buy four more boats to create a day-to-day clean-up throughout the week.
Your money will be helping clean up the most polluted place in America, the southeast point of the Big Island. There, the Pacific garbage patch mounts up to millions of pounds of trash and is twice the size of Texas. The aim is for the debris depo on the Big Island to facilitate the process of taking the trash out of the water, heliporting it to the sorting facilitating development, where it won’t be as toxic.
Where can I learn more about the problem?
You can learn more about Pro2tect on the company site. Another way to acclimate yourself to the problem is by watching the documentary Seaspiracy. Which helps shed light on the environmental impact of fishing, while examining various human impacts on marine life and advocates for ending fish consumption.
How can I get ahold of you?
Facebook or Instagram is a great way to have a conversation or a simple call to Pro2tect should suffice.
And the best way to help?
Please donate through Angel Protocol!
“Angel is a complete game-changer for Pro2tect. Invest during tax season or just during the bull-run. Creating perpetual endowments gives us the foundation for long-term growth and keep our operational focus on the Ocean.”
And for all you NFT lovers… Pro2tect started their own NFT collection where funds received go directly to cleaning up the ocean. Check out the project here. Looks rare.
Angel Protocol is an innovative new tool allowing all charitable organizations to access the power of endowments. By partnering with Angel Protocol, charities take a significant step towards financial freedom: a time when their operating expenses are covered by stable yields from their endowments and donations are used to drive expansion.
When charities own their own low-risk, high-yield endowment, their donors can now give once and have that donation continue giving year after year. “Give once, Give forever.”
If your charity would like to know more about how Angel Protocol can impact your mission, please email duffy@angelprotocol.io, connect with us on social media, or visit our website.
