Delaware coastal businesses rally for Gulf aid
Like many people, Kevin Roberts of Bethany Blues watched, helplessly, day after day, the news about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Finally, he said, he decided to do something about it.
“It started out small, as an e-mail I sent to about 50 of my friends and people in the community,” explained Roberts. “And it’s just escalated. What a great event!”
That original e-mail to friends and fellow businesspeople in the local community has birthed a movement. Delaware Coast Gulf Aid will be an educational event and a benefit concert for the Louisiana Gulf Coast. It will held on the beach in Dewey Beach, at Dagsworthy Street, on Wednesday, July 14, from 5:30 to 9 p.m.
Roberts said it’s hard to tell how many people will show but said they are preparing for 3,000 to 6,000. For $25, food and beverages are included for those older than 21, or those younger than 21 can pay $10 per ticket. Kids 12 or younger get in and eat for free.
There will be seven area bands playing throughout the night, as well as activities for children, and there will be an educational component, too, with information on oil spills from the Center for the Inland Bays.
Roberts said he had done some work previously with Jenn Jones of the CIB, so he contacted her early on in the planning stages. He learned that Delaware’s Center for the Inland Bays is part of a National Estuary Program and has a “sister” program, Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program,in Louisiana. All money raised at the July 14 event will benefit that program.
Roberts reflected on the similarities in the two coastal communities and said he gets goosebumps just thinking about it, how sad and angry it makes him feel to see that not enough was being done to help a community so like the one we all live in and enjoy.
“You turn on the TV, and all around you see people struggling, plus the animals and the environment. And look at our local community. And I hadn’t heard anybody saying what a coastline community like ours could do to help a community like theirs. If it happened to us, I would hope there were people out there that would say, ‘We can help. We can do something.’”
Ed Lewandowski of the Center for the Inland Bays said that more than 600,000 people live in the Barataria-Terrebonne watershed, and approximately 735 species of birds, finfish, shellfish, reptiles, amphibians and mammals spend all or part of their life cycle in that area.
Jones added that the response from the businesses and the community in general is “very touching.”
“It’s touching because we have similar community here, and people want to find a way to be involved and protect it,” she said. “And we hope that they continue thinking about our inland bays after we help out in Louisiana – how we can protect them in the future and for years to come.”
Roberts said he sent that first e-mail on a Friday night, from bed, after looking at the Weather Channel, and he had more than 100 e-mails back the day after. That Wednesday, he invited people to a meeting, and about 50 people showed up. He said they have been meeting ever since. They even have a Facebook presence with more than 975 friends, all in the span of about one month.
“From the University’s Sea Grant program, to local businesses, tons of restaurants – everyone’s looking to give donations. So many businesses have pledged money. It’s been a stellar performance by everyone,” said Roberts. “It makes me tremendously happy. I think the awareness is there now.”
For more information on parking and tickets sales, or to donate, visit the group on Facebook or online at http://www.decoastgulfaid.org. Tax-deductible donations may be made to CIB, benefiting DE Coast Gulf Aid, 39375 Inlet Place Rehoboth Beach, DE 19971-2600. A full 100 percent of the funds raised will go to assist in the response, recovery and restoration of the Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program (BTNEP) in Louisiana, by going through the local NEP, the Delaware Center for the Inland Bays.
