Tar Heels for Flint Campaign
Donation protected
Dear Students, Faculty, Staff, and other members of the Carolina Community,
We, the undersigned students of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have decided to take the initiative to organize a people-to-people solidarity project with Flint, Michigan. We have been organizing to provide direct support to a community that has, as you may know, suffered greatly because of the local, state, and federal government’s wanton and criminal disregard for their health and welfare. We have identified a sense of commonality in struggle and are working to help in bringing to light some of the injustices Flint residents have suffered. We also want to ensure that our campus community is aware of the problems and implications of the state of Flint’s water crisis. We intend to launch this campaign to provide direct assistance in the form of a monetary donation that will be used to purchase water supplies to replace the contaminated water that is currently flowing through many of Flint’s pipelines. We have chosen to send funds as opposed to collecting actual water to eliminate transportation costs and provide a larger sum of money directly to the community.
We will be raising funds through this GoFundMe campaign that will run until March 31, 2016. Our goal is to raise $5,000 from Carolina students, faculty, staff, and various members of the campus and surrounding communities. Our funds will be sent directly to The North End Soup Kitchen, a local organization that is having trouble serving members of the Flint community because they do not have enough clean water to operate effectively. We have been in contact with this organization and understand that they have a need for water supplies in order to maintain operation. We want to stand in solidarity with this organization, as well as the general community of Flint, Michigan, as we understand the growing need and lack of government accountbality and support. We hope that this approach will allow us to give our funds directly to a local organization that we can be sure will actually be beneficial to the members of the inner city communities of Flint.
Upon communication with the organization, we agree that the funds raised will be spent directly on purchasing water supplies to maintain operation of the kitchen. We recognize that water is a necessity to serve meals to the public, and therefore intend for money to go completely to satisfying this need. When we reach our goal, we will either send students directly to the community to hand over the donation, or send the funds via check directly to the organization.
The North End Soup Kitchen of Flint, Michigan
Please give as much as you can and encourage all of your friends, family, and fellow Tar Heels to support this cause. Thanks in advance for your support,
The Tar Heels for Flint Project
Jaelyn Coates
Merrick Osborne
Samuel Baxter
Mishana Sturdivant
Dominique Brodie
Stephanie Cassell
Tesarah Boyd
Quick Facts: What You Need to Know
1. April 2014, the water supply for Flint Michigan was changed from Lake Huron to the Flint River as a new pipeline to Lake Huron was constructed for us in 2016.
2. For 6 months, residents of Flint were unknowingly drinking and bathing in water that contained enough lead to meet the Environmental Protection Agency’s definition of toxic waste.
3. The water source change caused elevated blood lead levels among children in Flint.
4. Lead poisoning disproportionately affects low-income, minority children. It has profound adverse effects on intelligence, behavior, and biological processes.
5. Flint’s public health water emergency is part of a historical trend of environmental racism.
6. Flint residents are still expected to pay a monthly water bill for water they cannot drink.
7. Following advice from Michigan’s Department of Environmental Quality, lead from the pipes leached into the city’s drinking water.
8. This tragedy could have been prevented if corrosion controls were added to the water supply.
9. Congressional hearings on this matter are currently underway.
We, the undersigned students of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have decided to take the initiative to organize a people-to-people solidarity project with Flint, Michigan. We have been organizing to provide direct support to a community that has, as you may know, suffered greatly because of the local, state, and federal government’s wanton and criminal disregard for their health and welfare. We have identified a sense of commonality in struggle and are working to help in bringing to light some of the injustices Flint residents have suffered. We also want to ensure that our campus community is aware of the problems and implications of the state of Flint’s water crisis. We intend to launch this campaign to provide direct assistance in the form of a monetary donation that will be used to purchase water supplies to replace the contaminated water that is currently flowing through many of Flint’s pipelines. We have chosen to send funds as opposed to collecting actual water to eliminate transportation costs and provide a larger sum of money directly to the community.
We will be raising funds through this GoFundMe campaign that will run until March 31, 2016. Our goal is to raise $5,000 from Carolina students, faculty, staff, and various members of the campus and surrounding communities. Our funds will be sent directly to The North End Soup Kitchen, a local organization that is having trouble serving members of the Flint community because they do not have enough clean water to operate effectively. We have been in contact with this organization and understand that they have a need for water supplies in order to maintain operation. We want to stand in solidarity with this organization, as well as the general community of Flint, Michigan, as we understand the growing need and lack of government accountbality and support. We hope that this approach will allow us to give our funds directly to a local organization that we can be sure will actually be beneficial to the members of the inner city communities of Flint.
Upon communication with the organization, we agree that the funds raised will be spent directly on purchasing water supplies to maintain operation of the kitchen. We recognize that water is a necessity to serve meals to the public, and therefore intend for money to go completely to satisfying this need. When we reach our goal, we will either send students directly to the community to hand over the donation, or send the funds via check directly to the organization.
The North End Soup Kitchen of Flint, Michigan
Please give as much as you can and encourage all of your friends, family, and fellow Tar Heels to support this cause. Thanks in advance for your support,
The Tar Heels for Flint Project
Jaelyn Coates
Merrick Osborne
Samuel Baxter
Mishana Sturdivant
Dominique Brodie
Stephanie Cassell
Tesarah Boyd
Quick Facts: What You Need to Know
1. April 2014, the water supply for Flint Michigan was changed from Lake Huron to the Flint River as a new pipeline to Lake Huron was constructed for us in 2016.
2. For 6 months, residents of Flint were unknowingly drinking and bathing in water that contained enough lead to meet the Environmental Protection Agency’s definition of toxic waste.
3. The water source change caused elevated blood lead levels among children in Flint.
4. Lead poisoning disproportionately affects low-income, minority children. It has profound adverse effects on intelligence, behavior, and biological processes.
5. Flint’s public health water emergency is part of a historical trend of environmental racism.
6. Flint residents are still expected to pay a monthly water bill for water they cannot drink.
7. Following advice from Michigan’s Department of Environmental Quality, lead from the pipes leached into the city’s drinking water.
8. This tragedy could have been prevented if corrosion controls were added to the water supply.
9. Congressional hearings on this matter are currently underway.
Organizer and beneficiary
Jaelyn Coates
Organizer
Chapel Hill, NC
Mishana Sturdivant
Beneficiary
