Members of the Black Graduate Student Association are in the midst of a weeklong “Fresh for Flint” campaign.
The campaign, which began Monday, started as an “outpouring of concern and support” for the residents of Flint, Michigan, BGSA president Danita Dolly said in an email.
BGSA, with the help of other local organizations including the Boys and Girls Club of Bloomington, IU National Panhellenic Council and La Casa Latino Cultural Center has set a fundraising goal of $3,200.
The money raised will be used to help purchase one truckload of water from the Flint Sam’s Club to be sent to the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Flint.
“Hopefully through us giving this water to the kids, it will make things a little bit easier for those children and their families,” BGSA publicity chair Anthony Wright said.
The campaign follows a months-long water crisis after Flint switched its main water source from Lake Huron to the Flint River, where water had not been properly treated. This water was found to have increased levels of lead, which caused hundreds of people to have elevated levels of lead in their blood, according to an IU press release.
BGSA is raising money through a CrowdRise donations page. Contributors donated 15 percent of BGSA’s goal within 24 hours before the start of the campaign.
One truckload of water will provide 38,400 bottles of water for the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Flint, which serves 130 to 140 children daily during the school year, according to the Fresh for Flint CrowdRise page.
“The issue that’s happening in Flint can honestly happen anywhere,” Wright said. “We just want to make sure those kids are especially getting taken care of as they are going through such a developmental part of their lives physically, and just make sure they have the proper tools, water being one of them, to survive.”
Children of low-income families at the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Flint will be allowed to take water home to their families, Wright said.
“This isn’t going to be a long-term fix because the problem of the fresh water is definitely something that can’t be fixed with just sending in water to Flint,” Wright said. “What we really hope to do is allow the kids to do the simple things, like bathe or just to be able to stay hydrated throughout the day.”
Wednesday morning, BGSA raised about $1,700, more than half of the week’s goal.
BGSA members created fliers, emailed networks of potential donors and tabled on campus in support of the campaign which will continue through Saturday.
Some BGSA members from Michigan felt personally drawn to the cause, Wright said.
Alex Foster, BGSA’s elections and nominations chair, is from a town near Flint and said in the release she feels responsible for raising awareness and providing help for those who cannot access clean water.
“I hope this is just the beginning of our efforts to help in any way we can,” Foster said in the release. “We know that purchasing water bottles will not resolve the crisis completely, but BGSA has a responsibility to help fight the injustice Flint residents are facing.”
