The Cameron Preservation Alliance’s “Sponsor a Step” fundraiser for the Sabine Pass Lighthouse is going strong. Of the 96 steps to be replaced, 58 have been sponsored leaving only 38 to be claimed.
Cheniere LNG sponsored step number one, and donated $10,000 toward the project, which will be used for the casting fee and a new door, said Alliance President Andrew Tingler. But other donors include individuals, families, organizations and businesses from Houston to New Orleans.
Louisiana contributions have come from all areas of Cameron Parish, Carlyss, Sulphur, Lake Charles, Moss Bluff, Lafayette, Morgan City, New Orleans and Baton Rouge. Texas donors hail from Sabine Pass, Port Arthur, Port Neches, Beaumont Nederland, Bridge City, Rockwell, Baytown, Houston and Tomball. One contributor even lives in Butler, Tenn.
Steps have been donated in memory of family members, merchant mariners, sailors, Coast Guardsmen, former lighthouse keepers, and Hurricane Audrey victims and survivors. Each step will have a plate with the donor’s name. Each step costs $1000, and is tax deductible. Payment can be made by sending a check to the Cameron Parish Preservation Alliance c/o Andrew Tingler at 115 Boudreaux Lane, Lake Charles, LA 70607, or through Paypal at www.paypal.com/fundraise/charity/1983950. Tingler says a payment plan can be arranged.
Follow the lighthouse restoration progress on Facebook at “Sabine Pass Lighthouse-Cameron Preservation Alliance.”
Step donors will be listed each week in the Cameron Pilot. Here are the donors for the first group of steps:
1. Cheniere Energy
2. Cambre and Harper Families – in memory of Abner C. “Pete” Harper, Sr. Seaman 1st Class USCG stationed at the lighthouse 1942-1945
3. Ricky Keltz
4. Jim and Robin Anderson
5. Andy and Lisa Reed, Flock of Five Gift and Art Emporium
6. Ricky and Michelle Guidry
7. Sue Vanhoose
8. Lynora Young Griffith – In memory of Margaret Rogers Young
9. Patty and Boyd Boudreaux
10. US Coast Guard New Orleans
11. Patti Bobbitt, Mary Luce, Chuck O’Brien – In honor of Charles Hill O’Brien and family, descendants of lighthouse keepers Stephen Hill and William Hill
12. Rob Dawson
13. Kayla Hammons
14. Ronnie and April Doucet
15. Patti Broussard
16. Andrew and Christina Tingler
18 Jimmy Kiffe
20. Rhett Sanders – In memory of Carl A. Sanders/Neches-Gulf Marine, Inc. Sabine Pass Texas
(EDITOR’S NOTE–Step donors will be listed each week. If your name is not on this list, look for more to come in next week’s issue.)