Marc Gasol spends offseason rescuing migrants lost in the Mediterranean
Jul 29, 2018, 10:09 AM | Updated: 10:18 am
(AP Photo/Brandon Dill)
Charitable acts can come in many forms: donating money, building a school, handing out food baskets, giving away presents at Christmas.
For professional athletes, it rarely means getting on a cruise vessel and searching for stranded migrants in the open sea, but it does for Marc Gasol.
The 33-year-old, three time All-Star and native Spaniard who plays for the Memphis Grizzlies returned to Europe and joined a search-and-rescue vessel that helps rescue migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea from Africa.
Gasol has volunteered part of his offseason time on the Open Arms Proactive vessel (part of the NGO Proactive Open Arms program).
As a member of the crew, Gasol has experienced rescuing a stranded woman clinging to remains of a shipwreck with bodies in the water surrounding her off the coast of Libya.
“There were pieces of wood and clothes floating in the water,” Gasol told The Guardian.
The person that Gasol helped rescue was named Josefa and she was from Cameroon. According to the UN, she was one of nearly 1,500 people who have gone missing trying to cross the Mediterranean so far this year; a staggering number Gasol felt compelled to not only inform people, but actually take action to help.
“It was too important not to tell the world … I could no longer remain silent,” Gasol said.