Morehead City, NC —The North Carolina Seafood Festival and The Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament are synonymous with the Crystal Coast community bringing huge impacts to the area, but this time when the two event producing power houses joined forces the impact is going to hundreds of individual families directly!
After the 32nd Annual North Carolina Seafood Festival was cancelled, the North Carolina Seafood Festival Board of Directors felt they needed to do something to help their community after the devastation of Florence. They knew that trying to pull some semblance of the award winning North Carolina Seafood Festival would be too much stress for the people, businesses and the general well-being of the entire area. Even though many of the board members themselves were suffering personal displacement and loss off property, they were relentless in their efforts to make an event to benefit their beloved home. But it costs money to put on an event and that is when Chairperson Ed Stack made a connection with the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament to join forces with the North Carolina Seafood Festival to create an event that would give back and support the tremendous needs of the people in this area.
On November 3rd, the North Carolina Seafood Festival teamed up with the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament as the Co-sponsor and produced a new event as their way of outreach to help their community that was in desperate need of assistance beyond the initial impact of hurricane Florence.
“We knew that the needs of the community would be different as weeks went by, so we did some research” stated Ed Stack. “That is when we found out that people would need money; money to help with bills, food and basic necessities.” After feeling what it is like to be without power for a week or more, the board decided to donate the funds raised to Salvation Army who has a program in place to vet families in need to assist with payment of utility bills amongst other basic human comforts.
After the Amped Up for You-tilities event, the funds were configured and allowed for a donation totaling fifty thousand dollars to the area Salvation Army. Both The North Carolina Seafood Festival and The Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament are proud to present a check for $50,000 to the local division of the Salvation Army to answer the needs of their beloved community of Carteret County.
The North Carolina Seafood Festival is a not-for-profit organization in Carteret County whose vision is to promote the positive social and economic impact of the seafood industry. To learn more about the North Carolina Seafood Festival and stay updated on the 2019 festival, visit www.ncseafoodfestival.org.
Pictured in photo: Board Members of The North Carolina Seafood Festival and The Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament gather for a moment of “Cheer-ing” with the delivery of $50,000 from Amped Up for YOU-Tilities that will be used to help those in need in the area with their utility bills through the Salvation Army
Back Row: L-R// Ari Meltzer, Jim Bailey, Howard Basnight, Thomas Bennett, Kirby Sloan, Casey Wagoner, Warren Benton. Front Row: L-R// Mitch Gay, Crystal Hessmer, Dale Britt, Ed Stack, Mayor Jerry Jones, Major Dewey Alderson, Stephanie McIntyre, Sarah Garner, Caroline Petrilli, and Emery Ivey.
Photo by Jody Merritt photography