Local 9-Year-Old Wins Environmentalist Award

After the catastrophic 2010 oil spill off the Gulf Coast, one boy in New Orleans who took it upon himself to take action and do his part for nature.

Now residing in Burke, Va., then 8-year-old Mark Terrillion began his philanthropic campaign by setting up a lemonade stand and selling t-shirts with the help of his younger sister, Lizette. Within less than a year, Mark raised more than $18,000 for charity and received Action For Nature’s 2011 International Young Eco-Hero Award.

The oil spill in 2010 caused insurmountable damage to the eco-system in the gulf, especially off the coast of such southern states as Louisiana and Alabama. Many wildlife and eco-foundations rushed to the rescue of the species in danger of losing their lives and habitats.

“I got interested when I heard the Brown Pelicans were going to get hurt by the oil spill and I wanted to help them,” Mark said. “So, I decided to do a lemonade stand. I was just really proud of myself that I got an award. I was just like, ‘Wow.’”

Mark and his family were spending the month with his Aunt Lizette Smith in Alexandria, Louisiana in late May of 2010 during their move to Northern Virginia when he saw a Brown Pelican in danger of being contaminated by oil while at the beach in Gulf Shores, Alabama.

“He noticed the pelicans outside the windows and it was right before the oil hit the shore,” Suzanne Terrillion, Mark’s mother said. “Mark was aware of it and he asked, ‘Is this going to hurt the [pelicans]?”

That night Mark laid restless in his bed pondering a way to raise money for the pelicans when he remembered selling lemonade the year before in order to take his family out to dinner. That was it.

The next morning he set up shop in front of his aunt’s store and designed posters with the words “Lemon Aid for the Gulf” and a photo of a brown pelican. With the help of his sister Lizette, who was 6 years old at the time, sold lemonade at a more than fair-market price of 50-cents per glass. The stand caught the immediate attention of passersby and Mark raised two thousand dollars on the first day.

“Everyone was so disheartened and the plight of the Gulf is hard and people didn’t know what to do,” Suzanne said. “When Mark did this little thing, it caught the attention of so many people and they were like, ‘Finally—something we can do to help.’”

The local press caught wind, and an NBC affiliate interviewed Mark and submitted his name to Action for Nature for the award. His effort spread nationally, and within three weeks of launching his business, major television personalities such as Larry King interviewed him during a live telethon. He even hung out with musician Lenny Kravitz.

“It was awesome and really cool being on TV,” Mark said. “I did some Public Service Announcements and Anderson Cooper interviewed me. It’s just been awesome and I’ve had a lot of interviews so far and it’s a good life.”

Local kids stopped by and emptied their piggy banks into the donation box. Neighbors help set up a website: www.lemonaidforthegulf.com for contributions and t-shirt orders. People from all over the country sent Mark money and ordered shirts, which Mark, his sister and aunt put together and mailed.

By the end of the month, Mark had raised more than $18,000 selling lemonade and 1000 shirts and donated every penny to charity. The Terrillions wrapped up the stand and moved to Burke in July of 2010. But Mark was not done saving the pelicans. He set his stand up once again for five days while visiting his aunt on the anniversary of his first charity drive this past June and added another $1,250 to the pot.

“The first year, we split the $18,000 between the Louisiana Wildlife Hospital, the Audubon Institute and Tri-State Birds,” Suzanne said. “But this year we decided to give the money to the National Wildlife Federation which is actually located in Reston and they are doing habitat restoration in Alabama and Louisiana.”

Next summer Mark plans to organize his lemonade stand in Burke and continue his mission until the Gulf’s wildlife is safe.

“The oil spill may be over but the pelicans’ habitats still need redoing,” he said. “Every year until the pelicans are OK, I’m always going to do the [lemonade stand].”

Mark is like most kids his age in that he is on the swim team, plays baseball, basketball and is a Weblo Scout. But his mother has always seen something special in her son’s heart.

“He’s a very bright child and he’s never met a person who isn’t his friend. He always feels he can change the world and we’ve tried to instill that in him,” she said. “He put in hundreds of hours between the stand itself, interviews and t-shirts.”

Mark, now 9-years-old, will be entering fourth grade this fall in the advanced academic program. He says he has made “tons of friends” in the year since his family moved to Burke but says he prefers to stay out of the limelight.

“In Virginia, most every day I have a play date but I don’t really tell them [about the award] because I don’t want to brag,” he said. “My favorite subject is social studies—actually I like science and rocks and minerals. What I really want to do is help wildlife or be someone like Indiana Jones.”

Suzanne says she and her family love Northern Virginia and though they miss Louisiana, the children have had a valuable learning experience since coming to the area.

“We love it and it’s beautiful up here. There is so much here. We lived in New Orleans for Hurricane Katrina and had to leave for two months and the city is a tough place, but a great place,” she said. “Coming up here has been so nice and we go into DC and see all the sites and the kids have learned so much about history.”

To help Mark’s cause, visit: www.lemonaidforthegulf.com

For information on Action For Nature, visit: www.actionfornature.org

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One in a continuing series on the American Dream and local residents' efforts to embrace it.