Keen helps send Oregon team to the Gulf of Mexico

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A NASA satellite view of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Keen Inc. announced Tuesday that it gave $20,000 to a nonprofit effort that will send a group of 20 Oregonians to the Gulf of Mexico next week to document the oil spill disaster, offer volunteer assistance to coastal communities, develop educational curriculum and produce multimedia material and a book about the trip.

"Keen's gift is really significant," said Mike Rosen, who manages watersheds for the City of Portland but is organizing the trip — named PDX 2 Gulf Coast — on his own time.

Keen donated $15,000 to go toward the development of educational curriculum and the publishing of the book. In addition, it gave $5,000 that was matched by the group's own fund raising to go toward the costs of the trip. Keen will also send one of its employees to the Gulf with the group.

Rosen said PDX 2 Gulf Coast has raised about $35,000 in all, with a goal of $80,000 to span the life of the project.

"The dollars from Keen are important, but what's really exciting is they have a built-in audience that is interested in this," Rosen said. "It will be great to raise awareness beyond Portland."

Keen regularly supports environmental causes through its HybridCare program and features stories on its website.

"We can't change what happened in the Gulf, but Keen can help prevent a future disaster by strengthening our commitment to making considered decisions in how we run our business and by supporting organizations like PDX 2 Gulf Coast," said Linda Tom, Keen marketing manager, in a press release.

In addition to Keen, PDX 2 Gulf Coast received support from Mississippi Studios, which produced a July 19 fund raising event, Bridge City Comics and a number of Northeast Mississippi Street businesses.

PDX 2 Gulf Coast will launch an interactive website this week that will be updated during the trip.