GULF SHORES — If you walked into Big Beach Brewing on Thursday, chances are you were greeted with a sea of green T-shirts as the Alabama Coastal Foundation held a "Connect to Your Coast" community outreach event.

"Connect to Your Coast is ACF's regular event that they do a few times a year in Gulf Shores, Mobile and Birmingham," Share the Beach Director Sara Johnson said. "It's a chance for us to get in the community and connect with people and let them know about ACF and what we do."

The event lasted from noon to 8 p.m., with a portion of the proceeds from beer sales going to ACF and an informational booth located by the entrance to the brewery.

"We call it 'Connect to Your Coast' because ACF is really involved in the coastal area, and they lead several initiatives that are super beneficial to conservation," Johnson said. "There is the oyster recycling program that works with a lot of the restaurants down here, and we have the Coastal Kids Quiz where fifth-graders in the state can join an online program to learn about the coastal environment in Alabama."

Johnson said the event has been held at Big Beach a few times during the past few years, and is instrumental in the organization's fundraising efforts.

"It's been a really big turnout. Big Beach is always a popular one for us. I think a lot of the support was from the sea turtle volunteers. I saw a lot of green shirts out there," Johnson laughed. "Big Beach is a staple in this area, and word spreads around. It's always a lot of fun."

Johnson also said that as October approaches, bringing the end of the sea turtle nesting season, there are still ways for the community to get involved with the organization.

"We still have several sea turtle nests that need to be adopted, and we would love to get that support for our program as well," Johnson said. "Anyone interested can go to our website and they can adopt it for themselves, in memory of somebody, and it is a great gift or a fun way to sty connected. They will be sent stats on their nest after it hatches from our trained volunteers."

For more information on ACF or future events, visit www.joinACF.org.