New Haven, CT — Save the Sound has received a transformational $750,000 gift directed by Tim Hopkins on behalf of the Barrett Family Foundation. The gift, announced ahead of Long Island Sound Day—May 22, 2026—as part of the Sound Future Campaign, will expand Soundkeeper boat patrols across the entire Long Island Sound estuary, strengthen Save the Sound’s growing presence on Long Island, and advance the long-term sustainability of the region’s most comprehensive effort to protect and restore the Sound.
For Hopkins, the gift is deeply personal. Having spent his childhood summers on the Canadian shores of Lake Erie, Tim has firsthand experience with polluted waters. It was the late 1960s, when the lake had large dead zones due to nutrient pollution, and the Cuyahoga River caught fire when a spark landed on an oil slick. An emerging environmental movement united people in action that spurred the passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972 and the first Earth Day.
Combine a strong ethic for water pollution prevention with a passion for boating, and the result is an individual focused on making a difference. Tim was fortunate enough to spend time on the water throughout the East, having learned to sail on Lake Erie and then spent many years in the summer and fall enjoying the waters of the Chesapeake and Buzzards Bay. For nearly a decade in the 1990s, when the Sound was much more polluted than it is today, he lived in Darien, Connecticut, enjoying the water with his family on his 21.5 Aquasport, Water Daughter.
“I believe in the power of connecting people to address a common challenge, so when I was given the opportunity to direct a significant gift on behalf of the Barrett Family Foundation to a charity of my choice, Save the Sound was the obvious beneficiary,” Tim said. “The organization has led efforts to fight water pollution, using science, law, and advocacy to achieve measurable targets and combines two things that I’m passionate about, bringing communities together and pursuing clean water and restoration.”
This gift will, in part, ensure that Save the Sound’s Long Island Soundkeeper patrols can easily reach all 600 miles of coastline around Long Island Sound. The Soundkeepers, part of the global Waterkeeper Alliance, are an on-water patrol force that rapidly identify pollution sources and hold polluters accountable from Greenwich to Montauk before threats escalate into a crisis. The investment will also expand Save the Sound’s impact on Long Island by supporting a dedicated Long Island-based Soundkeeper; expanded harbor patrols in Cold Spring, Northport, and Port Jefferson; and a new bacteria-testing laboratory.
Hopkins’s vision is to strengthen Save the Sound’s long-term capacity to sustain its water quality monitoring, shoreline restoration, and legal enforcement programs.
“This is the kind of gift that changes the trajectory of an entire ecosystem,” said Leah Lopez, president of Save the Sound. “Tim’s vision isn’t relegated to a single place; it’s about the health of the whole Sound. His generosity ensures our Soundkeepers can patrol every harbor and stretch of coastline while providing sustainability that allows us to be here for the Sound not just today, but for generations to come. On Long Island Sound Day, there is no more powerful statement than investing in the waters we all share.”
Hopkins, who lives in Mystic, Connecticut with his wife, Aliina, drew further inspiration from his brother, who spent many years as an attorney at the Environmental Defense Fund advocating for the protection of fisheries and is himself a sailor who has spent years sailing around the world.
“Focusing on what’s most meaningful to oneself is a guiding principle in my life,” stated Hopkins. “Aliina and I are planning to live and continue boating in Mystic for our future, and I’m glad to contribute to protecting the Long Island Sound estuary we love through Save the Sound.”
# # #