Vermilion Parish Tourisim Department receives unexpected $75,000 check from BP

It is always nice to receive a $75,000 check in the mail you were not expecting.
On Monday, Vermilion Parish Tourism Executive Alison Miller saw an envelope from the BP Claims Department. Miller was no expecting anything from BP, so there was not a reason to get excited about the letter until she opened it and read it.
BP explained in the letter that Vermilion Parish will receive $75,000 to be used to promote Vermilion Parish. It also listed how the money can be spent and not spent. She plans to use it strictly on print advertising, bill boards, magazines and radio.
She has a year, starting in August, to spend the money to promote Vermilion Parish.
“I was excited when I read it,” said Miller. “Before I received the money, advertisers were calling me asking if we wanted to renew our ads that we did last year. I told many of them no, because I did not have the money like I had the last three years.”
Miller said she called a few publications back after reading the letter and gave them the OK to continue running the ad promoting the parish. She is planning to run it in magazines such as Southern Living and American Living, which all promote the South.
She has until Aug. 15 to come up with a plan on how she plans to spend BP’s $75,000. She has to send that plan to BP for them to approve before they send the parish any money.
Spending $75,000 is not expected to be too difficult, she said.
Vermilion Parish Tourism has benefited from the BP Gulf Oil Spill since 2010. For the last three years, Vermilion Parish has received $500,000 a year to spend promoting Vermilion Parish.
In three years, the parish’s tourism department spent $1.5 million promoting the parish.
Now, it has another $75,000 to spend on advertising. Before the BP Spill, Miller’s advertising budget was normally $10,000 a year.