By Krystal Moralee
Water shapes life along the Thumb Coast, and for many Community Foundation donors, protecting it is just as important as enjoying it.
For Susie Babcock, that connection is deeply personal. “Water is life,” she said simply. “Without water, we couldn’t live.” It’s a belief that has guided how she sees the world and how she chooses to care for it.
That care has become a steady generosity through her ongoing support of the Bioregion Reparation Fund at the Community Foundation. Month after month, Susie gives through consistency rather than grand gestures. It’s the kind of giving that, over time, fuels something lasting.
Susie’s family has a long history in the Port Huron area, and she was raised to be a good steward of the natural world. It’s something she has passed on to her own son, Nathan. In the late 1990s, she and Nathan became involved in a small local effort led by Sisters Veronica Blake and Concepcion Gonzales of the Sisters of Mary Reparatrix. The group, called Savers of Wet and Marshy Places, or SWAMP, invited young people to see the natural world not as something separate, but as something sacred, woven into both daily life and spiritual understanding.
That early experience grew into a deeper connection for Susie, and she joined retreats through the Full Circle EcoHouse of Prayer, where the same sisters continued their work, blending ecological awareness with a sense of reverence for the Earth. When the sisters began preparing for retirement, their concern was not for themselves, but for what would remain and they enlisted the help of those closest to them.
“They decided to open a fund at the Community Foundation to give grants to do positive things around water,” Susie said. “They really wanted us to try to get the money coming in to help get it established.”
For Susie, the decision to give regularly to the fund was rooted in both gratitude and responsibility.
“I felt a real loyalty to them to do this,” she said. “I, myself, gained so much from being around these two women.”
Since its establishment in 2018, the Bioregion Reparation Fund has supported projects that ripple outward, such as environmental education, conservation efforts, and sustainable practices that protect and honor local waterways. Grants have helped fund green building initiatives, support land conservation, and connect communities to the health of their watershed.
“While large, one-time gifts can act as a significant spark, recurring support like Susie’s keeps the momentum flowing. Even modest monthly contributions, when given faithfully, become something far greater over time,” said Jackie Hanton, vice president of the Community Foundation.
For Susie, the mission of the Bioregion Reparation Fund embodies everything she has learned through her life about caring for the natural world.
Growing up in the 1960s, she remembers her family tending a small backyard refuge, reusing what they could, composting, and making space for wildlife. “That’s probably where it really started for me,” she said.
Today, that same spirit shows up in the way she lives, tending what she describes as a “small but intense” garden, helping others with theirs, participating in bird counts through Audubon groups, and continuing to give.
“We are part of nature and we are all connected,” she said. “And what befalls any part of nature befalls all of us eventually.”
In a region defined by water, the similarity is hard to ignore. A single drop may seem small, but over time, it shapes shorelines, nourishes life, and reaches places we may never see.
To learn more about the Bioregion Reparation Fund or to begin your own recurring gift, visit the Community Foundation of St. Clair County at stclairfoundation.org or send a contribution by mail. Because when you care for the water, you’re caring for everything and everyone it touches.