From a Cajun and Zydeco Festival in East Sussex, England to a breakfast bar run by a high school senior economics class in Dallas, donations and one-of-a-kind fundraisers are pouring in to help South Louisiana’s communities via the Greater New Orleans Foundation’s Gulf Coast Oil Spill Fund.
Josephine Everly, development officer at the Greater New Orleans Foundation, gets 10 to 15 calls and emails per day about the Fund.
“I try to be as helpful as I can,” said Everly. “Some callers are experienced philanthropists who know exactly how they want to help. Others appreciate some good advice on what to do. I tell them that even a small donation helps.”
Poet Josh Garnier is donating a portion of the proceeds from his new book. Jewelers such as Eileen Bennett, Serenity Home and Gifts, Port Royal Jewelers and William B. Designs have created necklaces and bracelets to benefit the Gulf Coast. NOLA Couture’s colorful seafood print neckties will also generate donations.
Benefit concerts are being organized all over the world, featuring every conceivable music genre, from a heavy metal concert in New Orleans to a noise concert in New York. The Cajun and Zydeco Festival in East Sussex, England is being organized by a woman whose first name is familiar to New Orleanians: Zephyr Grayland. Grayland told Everly that Zydeco music is popular in England, a country whose residents have also experienced coastal damage due to an oil spill.
Food features large in many fundraisers. Jimmy Galle, owner of Gulfish Fresh Seafood, is organizing a Dine-Out event in the San Francisco Bay area. Galle’s father owned Kolb’s, a German restaurant that was a New Orleans tradition for almost a century. Dallas-based Fish City Grill is donating $1 per cup of gumbo sold. And the high school senior economics class from the Shelton School in Dallas has donated $1,800 raised at their breakfast bar.
One of the youngest callers to inquire about the Gulf Coast Oil Spill Fund was also one of the savviest. A sixth grader from Texas wanted to know what percentage of money donated would go to administrative fees. Everly told him zero – all the money is going directly to the organizations helping our communities.
Our small rural Indiana school would like to do something to help. We would love to connect with a school there in need. We want to teach our children about the importance of our oceans and give them an opportunity to be involved. Please let us know where we should go to help!
Lisa,
I am going to send you an email direclty. Thanks, Martha
We want to organize a benefit walk in Seattle, WAshington to assist the fisherman. How do we get this started
Hello! I would love to put together a fundraiser to help with the spill. I am an event coordinator in Milwaukee, Wi. Please send me anything to make this possible!
I would like to do a local fundraiser in a neighborhood restaurant/bar. Any info would help!
Hello,
I am an event planner in Vegas and would like to get some more info for an upcoming fundraising event. Please email me as soon as possible. thank you!
Very creative! A San Francisco ad agency turned a scheduled publicity plan for their firm into a great way to give.
http://creativity-online.com/work/pereira-odell-naknek/20426
http://pereiraodell.com/alaska/
We manufacture flip flops and would love to make a Save the Gulf logo flip flop. The flip flop would sell for $10 and we would donate $1 to save the gulf. The $10 price would include shipping to each individual customer. Would you be interested in this kind of support? We think it could be a huge success. Email flipoutinc@aol.com
Hi, I am a sophomore in high school and I’m trying to spread awareness about the Gulf spill. I have been researching different organizations to possibly fundraise for, and I am wondering how the money would be used if I sent it to GNOF. Please e-mail me!
Hi Martha,
I would like to organize a fundraiser at a local restaurant/bar with proceeds benefiting your organization. Please email me what steps to take to make it ‘legitimate’. Thanks!!
I would like information; my son and his boy scout troup would like to have a fundraiser.
I am trying to organize a benefit in the local beach communities of Jacksonville to raise funds for GNOF. Please send me any information that would be useful in making this happen. I am not sure what exact steps must be taken in order to ensure that my benefit actually does end up in the hands of GNOF.
Ms. Everly, My business partner & I, own Martinique Bistro, Magazine St. NOLA…We would like to team up with your organization & donate dollars we raise with internal programs at the restaurant. Please contact me with someone to guide the appropriate protocals. Thank you Kelly Barker “Martinique Bistro ” Magazine St. , NOLA (985-381-2933) cellular
I’m starting a fundraiser called “Every Little Bit Helps” and I’d like to give the proceeds to GNOF. Please send me the information I need to help get this off the ground.
Steve, thank you! We just sent you a flyer about the Fund you can use.
I am an artist based in memphis. I was interested in possibly doing a live painting for a fundraiser concert, and selling it afterwards, with the money going towards the oil spill relief efforts.
Thank you, Dusty. We just sent you a flyer you many want to use.
Hi, I’m a NYC event promoter and I’m planning a fundraiser for Gulf clean up. Please email me as I have some questions. Thanks.
I am interested in information for having a fundraiser to donate to the GNOF. Please email me any details that may help me with this.
The Tie Dye Nation is going to make Tie Dye T-Shirts with a graphic on it responding to the Oil Spill. We will charge $20 per shirt and donate $10 for every shirt sold we will also donate a $1 for every other item sold. New Orleans and the surrounding gulf has the full support from The Tie Dye Nation. http://www.thetiedyenation.com
Hi, I’m also interested in receiving information about the steps necessary to hold a fundraiser with donations to go to GNOF. I and a friend are both from NOLA and both currently live in Abu Dhabi, UAE, where it will be held. Please also email me the flier and any information I will need. Thank you!
GNOF replies:
Marguerite, I am emailing information to you now. Many thanks for your help.
It’s great to see people coming together to help those in need. I’ve kind of been shocked that there hasn’t been much media coverage nationally about any fund raising going on. Watching this video of Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam ripping BP at Jazz Fest inspires me to do something.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xci3M8iD8c8
Did you hear about the site http://www.plugthatwell.com ?
hi i am interested in doing a fundraiser right here in new orleans during the week of july 21-25. bartenders from all around the world are going to be here for Tales of the cocktail and i know they wanna help save our coast and economy. please let me know if you would be interested in helping making this fundraiser come to fruition.
If anyone else has any suggestion on how we can help please feel free to e-mail me at badnblond01@aol.com or visit us on facebook @ New Orleans Po-Boy shop. We are planning on having a nice size crowd for our community day which coul dbe potential donations for GNOF
I was led back to this site many times as I searched for an organization that would help the locals. My name is Heather and I own the “New Orleans Po-Boy shop” in Elkton MD. On June 19th we are holding hosting a community day. I plan to donate a portion of my sales that day to help the locals in Louisiana. It is heart breaking to watch the destruction, I can’t imagine watching it first hand. I left a mesasage for Josephine today. I am looking for any info she can give me. May God bless the people of New Orleans and surrounding communities that are affected.
Heather – we’re going to send you a flyer about the Gulf Oil Spill Fund that you’re welcome to circulate. Thank you for all your help.
one way to respond is by donating to auduboninstitute.org under support/oil spill response, you can ask the institute about taxes for the donors
Hi! I am a transplanted Katrina survivor living in Wyoming, running a little Steak House called Miss Ginny’s Roost…I would like to have a crawfish boil and am working with a couple local oil companies and service companies to underwrite the food so all the proceeds can go directly to those in need. Would like to emphasize the saving of the wildlife. What do I need for the donors for their tax purposes? I miss y’all so much ….let me know what I can do to help so I can alleviate these “survivor’s guilt” pains….thanks, ginny warren
ps. read about me at: wyofile.com