Hillsdale College students traveled with the Rotoract Club to Flint, Michigan, Saturday to donate over 300 cases of bottled water.
Wikimedia Commons | Collegian
Collecting 5,785 water bottles in just five days seemed impossible, but the Hillsdale College Rotoract Club managed to do just that.
The club ran a water drive last week, collecting donations for Flint H2O, an organization dedicated to bringing relief to the city stricken by lead-poisoned water. Students delivered the contributions to Flint, Michigan, and volunteered at a distribution center Saturday.
The Rotoract Club asked for donations of both water bottles and other basic necessities, such as dry shampoo and cleansing wipes. They received 5,785 water bottles, 108 gallon jugs of water, 18 bottles of formula, 14 packages of cleansing wipes, and three containers of dry shampoo.
“It was a lot more successful than we could have imagined,” said Rotoract Secretary sophomore Beth Stalter, who organized the drive. “We weren’t sure if we started too late, but we ended up getting over 300 cases of water.”
The drive brought in so much more than anticipated, the club had to find extra transportation.
“We got so much water we didn’t know what to do with it,” said sophomore Kaitlin Makuski, a Rotoract member who went on the trip. “The night before, we were scrambling to get enough cars to transport it to Flint.”
A group of 14 people, including both Rotoract Club members and other volunteers, visited Flint Saturday to drop off the water and to aid in other ways. The group organized previously donated water at the drop-off point and cleaned a nearby lot for future use.
Transporting the water to the city is just the first step, though. Getting it into the hands of citizens is more difficult, Makuski said.
“A lot of people aren’t going to the distribution centers,” Makuski said. “You have to take it to their house or give it an organization that will do that for you.”
Although most members of the trip had to leave after cleaning the lot, four volunteers stayed behind to pass out water to the surrounding neighborhood.
“Some people will come out of their house and ask you for water. Some people are so thankful, they’ll cry,” Stalter said. “They’re very emotional because it is such a big deal for them, and they don’t have help. They think there’s no hope, that they’ve been abandoned.”
Sophomore Summer Burkholder helped deliver the donations and pass out water. She also volunteered during the Hillsdale spring break mission trip, where students helped Flint H2O, as well.
“It’s really run down, with all the abandoned houses,” Burkholder said. “When you go door to door, you have to decide whether anybody lives there anymore. Sometimes it’s quite obvious because the front door is missing, and you can see all the way through to the back of the house. I haven’t been in quite so abandoned of a town before.”
The club, which began on campus this year, is happy with the yield of their first project, Stalter said.
“I’m so proud of everyone here,” Stalter said. “It makes such a difference. It’s really important because this issue is going to last for a long time.”
