Cliff Walls, right, a social relations and policy senior, and Alex Poe, left, an MSU alumnus, will spend 65 days canoeing down the Mississippi River in May to raise money for individuals affected by last year’s oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Poe and Walls lived across the hall from each other during their first year at MSU and have been friends ever since.
When they were underclassmen, MSU alumnus Alex Poe and social relations and policy senior Cliff Walls would joke about canoeing down the Mississippi River.
But last fall, it wasn’t a joke anymore. Walls had been researching the trip for two years, and when he mentioned the trip to Poe again, Poe realized it was possible.
“I never actually thought that it would happen,” Poe said. “I knew we had that window open. … We both realized that it could work this time.”
Poe and Walls met when they lived across the hall from one another in MSU’s dorms.
Around May 15, the two men will begin their 2,350-mile trip down the Mississippi River. For each mile, the duo hopes to raise $1 for Friends of the Fishermen, a charity that has raised more than $130,000 for fishermen affected by the BP oil spill last year.
“This one just seemed to match our trip the best,” Poe said. “We’re starting at the top of the river, and it ends right at the place where all those families are hurting.”
Walls said he has some personal ties to the area that Friends of the Fishermen helps — his family lives in St. Louis, La., near the affected areas.
“The fishing industry has been wiped out, and most families who live there are fishing families,” Poe said.
Although the charity was established after the oil spill, those in the area have had to deal with five disasters in five years, said Cullen Curole, economic development administration for South Central Planning and Development Commission.
The group services Friends of the Fishermen by helping to locate fishermen who need assistance and distribute finds.
“The first four were hurricanes,” Curole said. “(Last year) the fishing season for 2010 was several months late, and the overall catch was 30 percent down. For the ones right at ground zero, a lot of them ended up never fishing because of the oil spill.”
Curole said Walls and Poe’s planned donation was a “major contribution.”
Thus far, the duo has raised about $515 but hope, once they get on the river and begin using blogs and sites such as Twitter to track their progress, they will be more successful with donations.
“It’s a big undertaking,” Poe said. “I don’t think they believe we’re going to do it.”
Walls initially got the idea for the trip from his dad, who spent several weeks canoeing in certain areas of the Mississippi River when Walls was younger.
Ever since he heard stories of his dad’s trip, Walls wanted to paddle the entire river.
“It’s always been in the back of my mind,” Walls said.
Those who wish to donate to the trip or find more information can visit arsts.org.
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