Show of Support at Shrimp Shack

“Each man knew if it were him lost out there, the community would have his back.”
(pg. 321, Last Light over Carolina)

That line in my fictional tale of a shrimp captain’s ordeal out at sea came to life this week, as our own coastal community rallied to help a local shrimping family.

The Mount Pleasant watering hole Buddy Roe’s Shrimp Shack on Ben Sawyer Boulevard transformed into a command post. The emergency mission— to help the longtime shrimping family of Warren “Bubba” Rector.

The Anna Grace, Captain Rector’s shrimp boat, sank to the ocean floor earlier this month, taking with it the family’s main source of income. With insurance unaffordable for the Rectors, their sunken vessel is said to be a $150,000 loss. That price could easily be the death of a generations-old way of life for the Rectors, and would be for many local shrimpers. They struggle every season to make ends meet in an industry competing with cheap overseas shrimp prices among other things.

On Sunday, hundreds of residents responded to the mayday call in the form of a fundraiser at Buddy Roe’s. With money in hand, the crowd paid for plates of local-caught shrimp, cups of cold brew while participating in a raffles and auctions. All of this in effort to help the Rector family rebuild the business they lost out at sea.

I couldn’t attend the event because I was out of town. But my assistant, Angela, and her husband joined the charitable crowd and had the pleasure of meeting Pam and Bubba Rector, who described Sunday’s turnout as “phenomenal.”

Another shrimping veteran, who was touched by the turnout, said to Angela that it appears the community still deeply believes in their local shrimpers. And I think that is true. While I don’t know how much money was raised that afternoon at the shrimp shack, I hope the community response gives all of our shrimping families renewed hope that people around here still want their local shrimp.

What can you do? You can support shrimpers by buying only Wild American Shrimp. For more information, visit: www.wildamericanshrimp.com.