On Saturday February 6, nineteen Ford School MPPs volunteered with the Flint Red Cross to help with water delivery and outreach efforts in the wake of Flint’s water crisis. Students went door-to-door delivering water filters and cases of water and sharing educational materials with residents about the types of help available from local agencies.
The students joined a robust and well-coordinated community response implemented by non-profit and government agencies. As of January 27, Red Cross volunteers alone had distributed more than 29,500 cases of water and 19,000 filters in the city.
For students, the trip also presented an opportunity to move beyond policy and regulatory debates about Flint and engage in direct relief efforts. “I hope we can be more involved with creating solutions to ensure that no other community is denied their basic human right of clean drinkable water," said event co-organizer Brenda Duverce (MPP ’16). "There's a policy lesson to be learned when the basic needs of people are not taken into account by the very people who serve them.”