Last Summer, I left part of my heart on Grand Isle, Louisiana. It’s hard to describe the range of emotions I felt while visiting the Gulf coast in the aftermath of the BP oil spill, and today on the 1 year anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon explosion, my heart feels heavy once more.
Nothing I have experienced in my life quite compares to the work that we did on the Gulf last summer. We saw and heard things that most people never had the chance to experience. I have not forgotten, and I am more driven than ever before to continue what we started.
I hope you will join me in a moment of remembrance of the 11 lives that were lost a year ago:
Jason Anderson
Aaron Dale Burkeen
Donald Clark
Stephen Curtis
Gordon Jones
Roy Wyatt Kemp
Karl Dale Kleppinger, Jr.
Blair Manuel
Dewey Revette
Shane Roshto
Adam Weise
If you have not had the opportunity to check out the Spirit of the Gulf Coast initiative, I encourage you to do so at your leisure. What started out as a personal desire to get involved and help the Gulf region turned into a full fledged bootstrapped documentary initiative that continues today.
Here we are a year after the start of the accident, and the stories of lingering impacts continue to emerge from the coast. I’ve stayed in touch with several of the people that we met last summer and I have a sense for the ongoing struggle in the wake of the disaster.
For example, to the left is a photo of a dead (and apparently stillborn) baby shark washed up on the shore that was taken by a friend just last week along the Alabama coast. This is something that the locals have never seen happen before, and it’s heart breaking for sure.
I’m drawn back to the coast, and I am asking for your help today.
I am seeking individual donations to support this ongoing documentary work. The help of individual donors made this work possible in the first place and individuals can help the continuing efforts now.
If this work resonates with you, please consider donating a few bucks today. Literally, every dollar counts. Check out the Supporters page of the website to see others who have contributed to this work.
If you’re not in a position to donate but still want to contribute, please share links to the work through your own social channels. Spirit if the Gulf Coast can be followed on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Flickr, and on the main blog.
Also, please take a moment today to reflect on the magnitude of the disaster that claimed the 11 human lives listed above, as well as the lives of countless fish and wildlife of the Gulf of Mexico a year ago. Keep these people and animals in your thoughts as you go through the day.
There has been much sacrifice as a result of this unprecedented tragedy. Are there areas you can make sacrifices to mitigate disasters like this from happening? Think about it. If you need some ideas for getting started, try some of these.
Thank you for reading and reflecting with me. Let me know what this brings up for you. And please stay tuned for updates from my trip back to the Gulf.
Top photo: Terrell Clark
Bottom photo: Anonymous
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