RiseUp Minnesota, Flint Water Drive

My name is Daniel Williams and I am the founder of RiseUP Minnesota.

RiseUP Minnesota is a non-profit organization that focuses on the goals of helping and supporting people around the world during times of crisis. 
I decided to start RiseUp Minnesota in honor of my late son, Zayne DeForrest. Zayne was born with a heart defect and was taken from
us too early. There were people that reached out to us and helped us. Some we didn't even know! I wanted to give back in some way to help others during times of crisis.

Our current mission is helping the families of Flint, Michigan. While we have no relationships with anyone in the area, we felt this was a huge concern. The Flint water crisis is a drinking water contamination crisis  that started in April 2014. When Flint changed its water source from treated Detroit water and Sewerage Department water (which was sourced from Lake Huron as well as the Detroit River) to the Flint River, its drinking water had a series of problems that culminated with lead contamination, creating a serious public health danger. The corrosive Flint River water caused lead from aging pipes and decades of contamination from a local automotive plant to leach into the water supply, causing extremely elevated levels of lead. Between 6,000 and 12,000 of Flint's children have severely high levels of lead in the blood and experienced a range of serious health problems. The water change is also possible cause of an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease in the county that has killed 10 people and affected another 77.

We plan to fill a U-Haul truck with water and bring it to the Boys and Girls Club in Flint! Our focus for them is to have ongoing water support for as long as we can to help them through their time of crisis, by way of fundraising and partnerships. As of now, we have raised around 3,000+ bottles of water in 10 days from online, outreach marketing. 

Any donations of cases of water, gas cards, or money for gas would be greatly appreciated. 
The money raised here will be used to purchase water and gas for our trips to Flint. 

If you're in the Twin Cities area and would like to donate cases of water, you can do so at:

16372 Kenrick Avenue Suite 130
Lakeville, MN 55044
From 10am-5pm

Or contact myself through facebook and we will get in touch.



Let's help the people of Flint, Michigan!