It’s a very odd situation because it is coastal right now and the only thing affecting New Orleans itself is the fear — people think New Orleans is covered in oil (like during Katrina when we were allegedly covered in water three years later) so the long-term affects of tourism could be altered. We haven’t experienced any major cancellations yet. I think people are holding out to see what is going to happen, but we’re hoping things will work out.

On the coastal side, it is a completely different story. These are people who for generations, all they’ve done is fish. Fishing is their livelihood, their life and their passion. They have nothing now. The reality is, they may never be able to fish again in their lifetime. The predictions of the devastation to the ecosystem are unknown. For Katrina, the forecast was bleak for the ecosystem, but it actually bounced back pretty quickly. This is sort of a different story.

I went down there recently. It is truly heartbreaking. Now, the fishermen are using their boats to help clean the oil and the marsh. They are trying their best to help fix what went wrong.

I will forward you some info of things that I have and you can take a look to see if you think the ladies may be interested in anything. Hands on is a different story as all of this requires training (to work with the birds, clean up, etc), but I also know of some food drives to help out the fishermen. There is also a great T-shirt that can be bought for $20 with the proceeds going to coastal restoration. I think you also get your picture taken with your hand dipped in oil (similar to the No H8 campaign).

I will keep you posted. Much love to you and all of the ladies.