Water Donation
03/03/16
Multicultural student organization sends water to Flint, Mich.
Bluffton University’s multicultural student organization collected more than 7,000 bottles of water in February for residents of Flint, Mich. Members of Bluffton’s football team loaded the cases into a box truck on Monday, and multicultural affairs director, Tyson Goings, delivered the water to the Flint Board of Education for distribution.
Jessica Boggan ’17, a social work major from Cincinnati, led the collection efforts for the Children Need Safe Water Community Service Project.
“Waking up this morning and seeing the football team and all these cases of water being loaded is just a really beautiful thing,” said Boggan. “We’re really lucky, blessed and happy that people here were able to help.”
The leadership team of the multicultural student organization plans community service projects throughout the year. The students decided to help Flint after learning about the city’s water problems in the news.
A public health emergency was declared in Flint after tests showed the city’s water supply was causing elevated levels of lead in children following months of complaints about the smell and taste of the water. The problems began when the city broke away from Detroit’s water system, as a cost-saving measure, and began taking water from the Flint River. The river water was treated, but it is corrosive and caused the release of lead from old plumbing in many homes.
-B-
