Thousands of bottles and gallon jugs of water left Akron on a semitrailer on Wednesday, bound for Flint, Mich., where the drinking water is contaminated with too much lead.
Workers from the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank pulled about 40,000 pounds of water from the organization’s inventory in its warehouse off Opportunity Parkway in Akron. FirstMerit Bank, headquartered in Akron, teamed up with the food bank, paying for transportation costs, said food bank CEO Dan Flowers.
Flowers has a connection to the Food Bank of Eastern Michigan in Flint, which will distribute the water. He began his career there, and the two organizations have shared food and ideas for years, he said.
“Obviously, when there is a community in crisis, we’re going to step up to help,” Flowers said. “It just so happens that having worked at that food bank, it made logistics very easy.”
The tap water in Flint, a city of roughly 100,000, became contaminated with lead when the city, in an effort to cut costs, switched in 2014 from using Lake Huron as its drinking water source.
The city began drawing water from the Flint River, and corrosive water caused lead to leach from service lines. Flint has switched bank to Lake Huron water, but the city’s water remains unsafe to drink.
Flowers gave credit to Nicholas Browning, Akron regional president at FirstMerit Bank, who suggested the food bank help Flint. FirstMerit acquired Citizens Republic Bancorp, headquartered in Flint, in 2013.
After speaking with Browning, Flowers contacted an official with the Food Bank of Eastern Michigan, which will distribute the water through its network of more than 400 hunger-relief programs, including pantries and shelters.
Flowers said he had earlier reached out to officials at the Michigan food bank, but at that time they were not accepting donations.
“As the crisis grew and attention to the food bank’s role expanded, I’m certain they quickly went through the water they had on hand,” Flowers said. “They’re now actively seeking donations from food banks.”
The Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank got the water it donated through the Feeding America network. Both food banks are members of this organization.
Flowers said individuals can make donations of bottled water to the Akron-Canton Food Bank to replenish its supply.
In Michigan, the United Way of Genesee County has set up a fund for the purchase of filters and bottled water, among other items. The United Way says on its website that 100 percent of the fund “is used for these projects and no administrative fee is assessed.”
To donate and for more information, go to www.unitedwaygenesee.org.
Katie Byard can be reached at 330-996-3781 or kbyard@thebeaconjournal.com. You can follow her @KatieByardABJ on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com.