BATON ROUGE — Monday's total solar eclipse is estimated to inject $1.5 billion into the nation's economy. This figure includes money spent traveling around the country to go inside the path of wholeness and participate in space-themed activities.
The Baton Rouge native said he wants to do some good with his solar side efforts.
Jonathan Gee doesn't necessarily call himself a space buff, but he's spent months preparing for what could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. For Jonathan, that means traveling to Texarkana for a total solar eclipse and sharing the experience with others.
“After further investigation, I found out that [the eclipse] “There was a solar eclipse in 2024, so I wanted to actually go see it,” Gee said.
Jonathan tried to get safety glasses in 2017, but ran into an expensive roadblock.
“When I went to Amazon and other sites, they were selling at very high prices,” he said.
On Monday's solar eclipse, he took matters into his own hands. A few months ago, Jee started buying and selling safety glasses. Gee said he has sold thousands of pairs to people looking to capture views of the moon passing in front of the sun.
In addition to offering an affordable option, Jee says he sold glasses for two special people in his life.
“This was mainly for college funds for my two daughters to attend school in the future,” he said. “They're twins and they're three years old, so it just goes into their fund.”
