Residents in Flint, Michigan are still fighting for cost-free access to clean drinking water as the community works to recover from the devastating Flint water crisis. But one young mother went the extra mile to lend a hand over the holidays.
Indianapolis resident Chelsea Johnson is the 23-year-old founder of the Forward for Flint organization. When she read about families in Flint still struggling to get enough clean water with the holiday season approaching, she wanted to take action.
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“About two days before Thanksgiving I was on Facebook and I saw that Flint still doesn’t have clean water so it was my initial idea just to drive up there myself,” Johnson said, according to local news affiliate WISH-TV. “I was like how can I capitalize on this? How can I make this a bigger deal?”
As the mother of a 5 year old herself, the idea to collect drinking water to donate to Flint came quickly and without pause for Johnson. “I’m a mom. I have a young 5-year-old,” she continued. “So I can’t imagine trying to prepare for Christmas dinner or live daily without the water you need.”
Through her Forward for Flint group, the young mom mobilized the community and was able to collect a total of 300 cases of water to donate, making one final push outside of a charity basketball game on Friday, where she’d encouraged those planning to attend to bring a case of water to help the cause.
The group then drove nearly five hours to Flint on Saturday, where they delivered the cases of water just in time for the Christmas holiday. Among the recipients was the Flint Muslim Food Pantry, which took to Facebook with a heartfelt message of thanks to Chelsea and the Forward for Flint group.
‘Tis the season to have a kind heart!