Two weeks have passed since the LaPorte County Sheriff’s Department began collecting bottled water to help those in need; and the donations have been significant.
Schools in LaPorte County have acted as collection sites for the donations which will be transported to Flint, Michigan this coming Monday. The effort was led by school resource officers under the title Project H20.
Residents of Flint are accepting the donations after a high level of lead was found to be in the water supply. Numerous outlets have reported the cause is likely due to a lack of maintenance following city budget cuts.
Local and rivalry high school sporting events were used to help raise awareness about the cause, with some schools charging an entry fee of a case of water to enter the game. The LaPorte County Sheriff’s Department said they had to turn local residents away due to the number of fans in attendance.
Volunteers will work this weekend to count the cases of bottled water, eventually putting them on pallets and loading them on trucks for transport. South Bend-based organization Feed the Hungry has agreed to transport the donation to Flint on February 15th. They will receive a police escort during the trip.
The LaPorte County Sheriff’s Department said they anticipated collected a few hundred cases of bottled water. Instead, estimates have put the count in the 2-thousand case range. That makes for about 50-thousand bottles of water.
Donations were still coming in on Thursday according to reports for local religious and civic organizations.
