Marine Cleanup Initiative, Inc.
Out of Sight Doesn't Make it Right!
© 2010 - Marine Cleanup Initiative, Inc. All rights reserved.
The New Year's Evolution
Open Water Products, the brainstorm of Fort Pierce native, Jack Hudson, is an upstart company that anticipates breaking ground in the Fort Pierce area within the next six months. The company has already gathered together an impressive team of people to help create a very unique business model based on safety, ecological awareness, and giving back to those in need.
To note a few, the company has on board successful inventor/entrepreneur Mike Cristoforo, patent attorney (and real life rocket scientist) Keith Campbell, product inventor/engineer/technologist Mark Gilbert, Economic Development liaison for the city of Ft. Pierce Buzz Smyth, Iraq war and Purple Heart veteran Luke Murphy, and MCII's own environmentalist/master captain/master diver Captain Donald Voss.
Fifteen of the company's team members met at the Jupiter Beach Resort recently to prepare for the launch of their first product in a long line of uniquely designed eco-friendly and life-saving products.
While backgrounds and experience among these fifteen members varies widely, they all hold onto a common thread, which is that their excitement about this particular company is based on the purpose of improving on existing products to the point that current guidelines for safety and ecology will soon show a dramatic shift for the better.
Inspired after hearing of a tragic dive accident off the Treasure Coast and then the passing of two Tampa Bay Buccaneer football players whose boat capsized in the Gulf of Mexico, the company's founder, Jack Hudson, began to work on two simple ideas of increasing the odds of survival in each of those situations. This led to an amazing two-year journey that morphed into an entire line of safety and eco-friendly patent-pending products.
Jack is determined to utilize his company and ideas to give back to the community where he grew up by increasing job opportunities with the production and distribution of the company’s products and by employing veterans in various capacities, as well as troubled youth, wherever possible.
Jack cites a basic principle of well-being, which is that we cannot take care of others unless we are in a position to take care of ourselves, first. And while there is still plenty of work to be done, Jack truly believes his company will one day be in a position to do something very special in the city of Ft. Pierce and hopes to eventually extend this goodwill across the U.S. and, in the end, globally.
People everywhere are finding it tough to make ends meet these days. Many struggle, for the first time in their careers to find jobs to feed their families. Who could have imagined having the ability to create such a precious commodity, such as jobs, only to allow them to be shipped overseas so someone somewhere else can do the work at a cheaper rate just to have the product of overseas jobs shipped right back to the U.S. And who is asked to buy these products manufactured overseas? Well, of course, the same people who were not asked to fill the jobs to manufacture the products! Just so that a few select corporations and individuals could get a little bit richer.
It's backward. America has become a backward nation.
"The quickest way to keep jobs from going overseas," Hudson says, "is to keep the 'ideas' that create such jobs from leaving, first."
Clearly, jobs are a byproduct of ideas. And it was ideas, creativity, and ingenuity that created the American Dream in the first place. Now, more than ever, the people of this country are waking up to this process and are willing to support products that may be a bit pricier on the shelf, but return wealth in much bigger ways, namely by creating jobs.
Throw in a heavy dose of charity and goodwill and Open Water Products sees itself 'eclipsing the competition' in no time with never-before-seen technology specifically designed to prepare for the worst before it happens and to save lives when a hazardous situation does arises, all with the intent to reinvest its profits in America.
Get ready for an entirely New Year with the Evolution of Safety, Ecological Awareness, and the return of The American Dream!
Seated: Debbi Denning, Kathleen Purdy, Susan Johnson, Jody Herbert, Veronica Gonzales
Not Pictured: Staff Sargeant Luke Murphy
Is Perception Really Reality?
Open Water Products (OWP) is so excited about its partnership with Captain Don Voss of Marine Cleanup Initiative because he 'gets' exactly what we are all about. With Captain Don's help and expertise in the area of marine and environmental cleanup, he and the rest of our team at OWP will soon unequivocally prove that what most people perceive as safety or ecological friendliness is anything but that when you consider the products we are about to introduce into the market.
We have all heard the expression "perception is reality." However, when you really look at it through the harsh prism of "actuality", as does the unique group of individuals who have come together at Open Water Products, one can easily understand why the "perception is reality" mindset can be more disastrous than we think...
Jack Hudson states that the best thing about his job is that, "I get to hang out with some of the most creative and intelligent people I've ever met. Together, we can logically look at any product or problem and say, with conviction, that we can make it better."
OWP aims to be a microcosm of the hope that there is nothing to fear when butting heads against the status quo and foreign competition. In fact, OWP relishes a bit of 'healthy competition.' Says Hudson, "I'd like to think we're going to gain a lot of public support and will surprise more people than can be imagined when we begin to roll out the products we have in development, coupled with a business plan developed entirely around giving back locally, first, and then globally, soon thereafter."
The point about 'perception and reality' hits home when you consider the many different ways in which people come face to face with dangerous situations every day across the world. The moment before some unknown tragedy strikes, we feel completely 'safe' about what we are prepared with to deal with such an event. Of course, there are always those who simply play the odds that 'it will never happen to me' and take no precautions whatsoever.
Perception vs. Reality vs. Actuality
Four strong, young, healthy men - NFL football players, even - head out for a routine fishing trip in the Gulf of Mexico on a crisp, cool, later-winter day in Clearwater, Florida. They "perceive" that all is well because the boat has life jackets onboard and, of course, is made to be on the water. In fact, this particular type of boat is even very difficult to sink. Further, it has probably even passed a routine safety inspection and is not overloaded as they head out of Clearwater Pass. Surely they have a radio and cell phones for ship to shore communications, as well, if they have a breakdown or need any type of help. Their perception of reality is that they are perfectly safe and prepared for an emergency.
However, there was an abrupt change in the weather as the crew had ventured nearly 30 miles out from shore. Although their boat was hard to sink, it was not difficult to flip while anchored in rough seas. And while each crew member was able to don what they perceived to be "life-saving" vests, even this was not, in actuality, enough. And cell phones are useless once they're dumped into the gulf.
The lone survivor of this tragedy describes how his fellow crew members soon gave up hope of rescue as they drifted farther apart from each other and simply shredded their life vests to allow themselves to succumb to the cold depths of the gulf. Perhaps the fear of drifting aimlessly and alone while waiting to be rescued was more frightful than simply giving in to the situation.
In this circumstance, what if there was a device that could be simply deployed that would serve to keep crew members together in the event of such a tragedy so that no one would "drift alone" while waiting for help? Now that's an idea!
Read the story of this tragic event here:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,504464,00.html
Tragedy strikes on New Years day, 2011, for a wife and mother of six children when she is awakened by a fire that broke out in their wood frame apartment in North Dakota. She managed to find the fire extinguisher. However, in the dark, she could not figure out how to use it. Though neighbors rushed to her aid, the smoke was so thick and the fire was so hot that they couldn't get into the building to rescue the rest of Lilly Ann's family. Her husband and four of their children perished in the fire. Two other children were not at home at the time.
Read the story of this tragic event here:
http://www.devilslakejournal.com/features/x104372864/Tragedy-strikes-former-DLHS-student
What might the outcome have been for Lilly if the fire extinguisher was stored in a lighted fire-proof cabinet making it is easy to locate and read operating instructions. And what if it simultaneously sounds a siren and alerts the fire department when smoke is detected, while also providing a flashlight to guide you through the smoke, as well as a cloth respirator and fire retardant gloves?
Now that's an idea!
More simply, what if there was a beach bag that replaces those throw-away tourist attractions of a simple mesh bag that pretends to be 'beach friendly'? Many resorts exhibit these bags that they propose are useful for shell collecting. These are simply tourist items that get disposed of once you return home and they inevitably end up in a trash heap. Or worse, bags left behind on the beach pose a serious threat to birds and aquatic life that can easily become entangled in the mesh.
How about a functional beach bag that provides watertight compartments for your towels, cell phones, etc., while also providing a pocket for collected shells, as well as a pocket for trash collected while strolling the beach that can then be deposited into appropriate trash/recycle bins - all made from completely recyclable materials while being very fashionable. Now that's truly a beach friendly super idea!
These are just a few examples of what Open Water Products is in the process of developing and we look forward to rolling out these and other life-saving and eco-friendly products in the coming months.
