Over the past four years, Bob Eadie has spent many hours building oyster-growing equipment for the Tidewater Oyster Gardener’s Association (TOGA) on his own initiative and often from his own home or Camp Kekoka.

Bob’s volunteer support has been critical as interest in TOGA equipment is growing rapidly. In recent years, membership demand for TOGA-built floats and devices has grown from approximately 120 in 2020 to 350 in 2024 and even more in 2025. This kind of growth is great but building floats is a lot of hard work and requires skills and time.

In 2024, the float-building team fell behind their build schedule for a semi-annual sales event. But when they gathered for a build day, almost all of the wire pieces had already been cut and bent by Bob. “We stood there a while with our mouths open,” recalls TOGA Board President Carl Zulick. “It was a great relief and smooth sailing to complete the floats for what became our biggest sale to date.”

Bob has built about 300 spat tubes himself. It requires a great deal of careful and intricate work that Bob enjoys doing while he watches hockey on TV. Bob also coaches TOGA members when building their own floats and is a stickler for improving and standardizing the float designs. He also donates a lot of the equipment and supplies for the items he fabricates.

In 2025, Bob continues volunteer float-building and supported educational events such as Oyster Gardening 101 classes, Hampton City Schools Oyster Restoration, teacher training, and salvaging oysters and cages from abandoned oyster gardens.

TOGA Board President Carl Zulick adds, “Bob is great example of TOGA volunteers who are committed to furthering the mission of TOGA by getting more oysters in the water and improving the health of the bay and its ecosystem.”

To learn more about how to get involved and discover new volunteer opportunities in the River Counties of Virginia, visit the new volunteer hub for the region at VolunteerRiverCounties.org.