Philanthropist Louis Bacon and New Jersey Governor Chris
Christie have been awarded the Chairman’s Leadership Award by the National Fish
and Wildlife Foundation.
Their on-going dedication has contributed significantly
to the protection of landscapes and ecosystems at risk of destruction and has
been officially recognised with the most prestigious accolade given out by the
Foundation as part of its tenth annual benefit.
Presidents Ronald Regan and Jimmy Carter have been
awarded with the same honour in the past and Bacon whole-heartedly deserves it
too. To date, the Moore Charitable Foundation has given its support to over 200
nonprofit governmental organisations, including NFWF, for over 20 years.
Bacon’s charitable foundation, together with its Bahamas
affiliate foundation, directs its efforts towards other causes aside from
conservation. These include contributions to educational, medical and
historical organisations in the Bahamas.
Through a grant given to the Bahamas Reef Environment
Education Foundation (BREEF), time will be spent ensuring that programmes for
teachers and students with “in-the-classroom” and “in-the-water experiences”
with a long term aim of increasing much needed awareness with regard to
environmental concerns.
The generosity of organisations such as NFWF, that
channel public conservation dollars to environmental issues of paramount
importance and even promise to match investments with private contributions
deserve as much support as they can get.
Currently supporting the BNT’s “Conchservation” project,
which aims to protect the Bahamian conch population, a most treasured part of
their culinary culture, Bacon’s charity work is showing no sign of slowing
down.
Described as “one of the best friends the conservation
movement has ever had” by Paul Tudor Jones founder of Tudor Investment
Corporation, Bacon has set a true example that other successful hedge fund
managers really ought to follow. Future generations will suffer if we don’t
change the way we live our lives and it is investments and efforts made by
individuals like Bacon and Christie that can affect substantial change.