DECEMBER 2020 | ISSUE 3
The best is yet to come Happy holidays from CRCL! It’s been … quite a year. At the start of 2020, we adopted a new strategic plan. One of the values the plan includes is “adapt as necessary.” We didn’t know what the year had in store for us, but that element of our organizational philosophy ended up being front and center for us. Our volunteer events, oyster collection and other in-person activities ground to a halt in March when the pandemic reached Louisiana. Our conference and an awards banquet were pushed back. Even the rollout of a beer promoting our work was affected. But adapt we have. Our meetings have gone virtual, as have the conference (more on that soon), awards banquet and our Shell-a-bration bash. Our volunteer planting events have resumed, and soon shell collection will restart. We built an oyster reef along our coast, and we have developed new efforts to connect with people to help them understand our coastal crisis through a youth leadership program, a self-guided bike tour and involvement in policy decisions that affect our future here in south Louisiana. We even got into the Zoom background game. This year left no doubt that our work is critical. Coastal Louisiana was battered by one hurricane after another this year, with devastating results, and the recovery will be lengthy. But do not doubt that there will be recovery. This will be one of those moments in history that is remembered for generations. There is no escaping the fact that it has been difficult. But a turning point has come in the pandemic, and a turning point is on the horizon in the effort to save our coast. By working together, great things are in store for south Louisiana in 2021, we believe. The time for action is now. Coastal restoration needs your support. We thank you for being with us in 2020, and we hope that you will join us in the new year.
