Oil Disaster: Foundation Responds

Brown pelicans, a symbol of Louisiana, had just been marked off the endangered species list. But the oil came and coated the birds, making them vulnerable again to the mercies of nature. Along the coast, sea turtles return to a small patch of land, where they rely on the rich waters to make their young grow. Oil has polluted these spawning grounds. Beneath the Gulf, oil plumes and chemical dispersants cause damage that scientists don’t yet understand.

Along the coast, oystermen, shrimpers and fishermen are at a standstill, their boats harbored, maybe for a decade or more. Look among them and you will see Creoles, Cajuns, African Americans, Native Americans, many working a trade taught to them by their fathers and mothers – and on down through the ages.  Newer to the fishing businesses are the Vietnamese. Losing their own country, they traveled to America, worked and became our neighbors, only to have the oil take their livelihoods.

BP has committed $20 billion to cover the costs of this disaster, the worst in U.S. history. At the Baton Rouge Area Foundation, experience has taught us that the amount won’t be enough. Given time, BP will exit and the government will turn its attention elsewhere, leaving much more to do.

In response, we have established charitable funds to do whatever is necessary to save the birds, the fish, the turtles – and to make sure the people of the coast get another chance to make a respectable living.

For the Future of the Gulf {DONATE NOW}

For the Future of the Gulf is a flexible fund that will respond as needed to assist people, wildlife and the environment. In each area, the focus of the fund will be long-term issues and solutions that deliver a stronger and smarter Gulf Coast.

For People of the Gulf {DONATE NOW}

Fund for the People of the Gulf will underwrite Foundation initiatives and other nonprofit organizations that are helping people in all walks of life who call the Gulf Coast home or counted on its resources for their income.

For Animals of the Gulf {DONATE NOW}

Where endangered Brown Pelicans and sea turtles produced their young, there is toxic oil. Fund for Animals of the Gulf will make grants to ensure coastal animals will thrive again long after the well has been plugged. Among our goals is to fund the cleaning of birds and other animals, and returning them to health.

For Environment of the Gulf {DONATE NOW}

Natural and environmental disasters have done untold damage to the Gulf and the Mississippi River Delta. Will the marshes, where wildlife spawns and which protect cities from storm surges, be killed by the oil or disappear due to subsidence and erosion, taking out crucial wetlands with them? What is happening to unseen life in the Gulf? How long before the water and land recover? Fund For the Environment of the Gulf will provide money to find answers and to shape smart solutions that let the Gulf thrive and withstand future disasters, including long-term investments in education, science and technology that will produce critical benefits in safety, restoration, habitability and economic viability of deltaic regions such as our own.

The Colbert Nation Gulf of America Fund {DONATE NOW}

Satirist Stephen Colbert has formed a Gulf fund at the Foundation. The general relief fund is supported by Comedy Central, Colbert fans and others.