June is a meaningful month for both our feline friends and the planet’s oceans, spotlighting World Reef Day, World Ocean Day, and National Adopt a Cat Month. But the bond between cats and marine life runs deeper than the month of June. Many of the fish that end up in your cat’s favorite food depend on coral reefs—vital yet vulnerable ecosystems now facing unprecedented environmental threats.

Fortunately, Sheba, a Mars Petcare brand, is stepping up. Through its Hope Grows initiative, Sheba is partnering with global reef restoration experts to help revive these essential underwater habitats.

Here’s how the program is making a difference—and what cat lovers can do to help.

What is Sheba Hope Grows?

On the surface, Sheba is a well-known cat food brand, but if you dive a little deeper, you’ll discover the Sheba Hope Grows program. Since its inception, Sheba Hope Grows has launched several reef restoration partnerships with organizations around the globe from Indonesia to Kenya to the Hawaiian island of O’ahu—the home of Kuleana Coral Restoration.

Meet Kuleana Coral Restoration

How does one even begin to tackle a serious undertaking like reef restoration? For the founders of Kuleana Coral Restoration, headquartered in O’ahu’s Ko Olina marina, it was the homegrown passion for the ocean.

“I grew up a five-minute walk from the ocean and always knew abundance,” says Kapono Kaluhiokalani, co-founder of Kuleana Coral Restoration. “Growing up on the beach where I lived, there were always fish. And as I grew older, I started to notice the nets weren’t as full anymore, but I continued to take and continued to surf. And I just sat and wondered what was going on.”

These observations eventually turned into action when Kaluhiokalani partnered with Alika Peleholani Garcia. Having worked side by side as firefighters and commercial fishermen, the duo realized firsthand the toll commercial fishing was taking on their local ecosystems.

“We had to make a change,” Kaluhiokalani says. “We had all the equipment at the boats, we had the scuba tanks and everything, and [Garcia] had this idea like, ‘Hey man, let’s do some coral restoration.'”

But before Kuleana Coral Restoration could see the light of day, the duo needed to become a trio: enter Danny DeMartini, PhD, who just so happened to be in the market for a new job when Kuleana was in the process of getting its sea legs and googled something along the lines of “ocean science job.” Safe to say it worked out!

“[DeMartini] is our everything bagel,” Kaluhiokalani says. “He put us all together, and for everything we ever need, we call on this guy.”

Together, Kaluhiokalani, Garcia, and DeMartini make up the founding team of Kuleana Coral Restoration. Kuleana means responsibility in Hawaiian and speaks to our responsibility as humans to have a reciprocal relationship with the ocean—we take care of the ocean that takes care of us.

Today, the Kuleana team at large is over a dozen strong, comprised of technicians, divers, restoration managers, and more.

“We were able to build an awesome team that had our back,” Kaluhiokalani says. “All the programs, all the partnerships that we have made along the way, it’s because of our team.”

Reef Stars: The Modern-Day Heroes of Coral Reefs

With coral reef decay at an unprecedented rate, many restoration efforts are experimental. One promising solution is Reef Stars—an approach pioneered in Indonesia and refined over the past 15 years with the help of Mars Sustainable Solutions. “Reef star” is more than a catchy name—it’s a direct reference to the device’s shape and function.

Reef stars are a hexagonal multilevel structure made of steel rebar and coated with two layers of boat resin and naturally occurring sand. Pieces of healthy coral that have broken off larger coral structures, what the Kuleana team calls “corals of opportunity,” are collected by the diving team and then attached via zipties to the sandy bars of the reef star.

“The sand that they’re coated with was coral at some point that’s just been broken down, so that’s really helpful and conducive for that coral growth,” says Blake Nowack, restoration manager of Kuleana Coral Restoration. “It’s what they’re kind of growing on anyway.”

The coral attachment process is usually conducted underwater by Kuleana’s team of divers, but Kuleana is experimenting with out-of-water attachment following a training on the ground in Indonesia. It’s a lot less stressful to operate a zip tie when you’re not worried about running out of oxygen!

Once the healthy coral pieces are securely attached to the reef star, Kuleana’s diving team goes back under and installs the reef star using metal pins. After installation is complete, the Kuleana team shifts into monitoring mode, keeping an eye on the installation site for signs of new coral.

Over time, reef stars have proved to be sturdy structures, which is a relief for the Kuleana team, who face unique environmental obstacles.

The O’ahu restoration site is smack dab in the middle of a part of the Pacific Ocean that experiences large wave swells, aka “big wave energy,” Nowack says. A large enough swell could, hypothetically, cause a reef star to come uninstalled and ram into otherwise healthy coral. Luckily, that hasn’t proved to be reality. After a particularly active winter of swells, the reef stars seem to be braving the conditions just fine.

Stream Reef Builders, Save Coral Reefs

For those who don’t live near the ocean, the health of our world’s coral reefs may not be a top-of-mind issue. But Sheba’s new documentary Reef Builders looks to spark conversation among cat lovers everywhere.

“The core of it is healthier reefs create more fish, which creates a more sustainable ecosystem,” says Lindsay Kordik, senior director of external affairs at Mars Pet Nutrition North America. “Coral is the starting point of the ecosystem for pet parents to have a great source of sustainable wild-caught fish in our products.”

Available now to stream on Amazon Prime, Reef Builders is a vibrant, inside look at several of the Sheba Hope Grows reef restoration sites, showcasing both the inspiring victories and the formidable challenges faced by teams working to revive the reefs, including the Kuleana team. Additionally, Disney fans will spot a familiar face: Auli’i Cravalho, cat mom to Rocco and the voice of Moana, makes her associate producer debut and lends a powerful, meaningful voice to the documentary.

Plus, for every hour Reef Builders is streamed in the U.S. by June 29, Amazon will donate $1 to Kuleana Coral Restoration.

What’s Next?

As June draws to a close, Sheba Hope Grows is just getting started. The rest of 2025 promises even greater strides in coral restoration, with a growing focus on Latin America.

“In 2025, we have a few key focus areas, including a new partnership in the Colombian Caribbean with Corales de Paz, a women-led Colombian nonprofit working to restore and protect vital reef ecosystems,” says Mindy Barry, global vice president of marketing at Sheba Brand. “This marks the first time our reef stars have been piloted in the region—an exciting milestone for coral restoration in Latin America. And most recently, the Mars Sustainable Solutions team announced our latest coral reef site in the Dominican Republic in partnership with FUNDEMAR, which is dedicated to promoting sustainable use of marine ecosystems.”

From the Pacific to the Caribbean, Sheba Hope Grows is making waves across the globe. But the future of our reefs depends on more than just scientists and divers—it depends on all of us. Whether you’re a cat parent, ocean lover, or both, visit shebahopegrows.com/help-restore-reefs to see how you can get involved.