Fundraiser Brings Water Filters to Site of Lead Crisis

The Center for Service, Spirituality and Social Justice (CS3) has raised $500 for water filters to donate to the people of Flint, Mich., whose water supply has been contaminated with lead since 2014.

Helena Jeudin ’17, who started this project with her colleagues in CS3, expects that the funds they have raised will purchase 22 water filters, which cost $26 each. The money raised through table-sitting in the HUB mostly came from students, some faculty and administration and a few members of the board of trustees.

Jeudin said she started this fundraiser because she believes that “every living being deserves access to clean and potable water.”

“Imagine having to bathe yourself, cook your food, do household chores, or worse yet, sustain yourself, solely on bottled water,” Jeudin said “It’s hard for me to even imagine and I am so thankful that I have access to such a basic human resource.”

Currently, Flint residents must buy bottled water for drinking, cooking, or bathing. By donating water filters to residents, Jeudin hopes to mitigate their out-of-pocket costs for water.

“I think it’s wrong that citizens are being forced to pay for water they can’t even drink and that children are exposed to water that can cause extensive and irreparable developmental issues,” Jeudin said. “I don’t expect us to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars but if we could buy filters for five, 10, 15 people, or even just one person, it would make an impact.”

On Friday, Feb. 12 the group will have a Valentines weekend bake sale where people can buy treats and valentine grams.

The next phase of their fundraiser is community outreach. The students will appeal to a number of churches, organizations and businesses in the greater Carlisle community to ask for donations.

In April of 2014, the state switched Flint’s water resource from Lake Huron to the Flint River to save money.

There are 100,000 residents in Flint. 57 percent of them are black and 41 percent are living below the poverty line. According to Amanda Hooper of the National Women’s Law Center, the water crisis in Flint has “intersecting implications for economic, racial, environmental, immigrant and reproductive justice.”

Dickinsonians who want to contribute to the CS3 fundraiser can bring their donations to the Dickinson for Flint table in the HUB.