They say that people should always look for the silver linings, even in the darkest of clouds. There is no doubt that the water crisis that has shaken the city of Flint and the state of Michigan is truly the darkest cloud citizens of this state, as a whole, have dealt with in quite some time. But we here at Issue Media Group and Michigan Second Wave have noticed a trend of silver linings.
Washtenaw stands for Flint
Take, for example, this story that ran in Concentrate last week about folks in Washtenaw County who are lending a helping hand to those in need of clean water in Flint. Those efforts range from water drives to protests to trying to lend help through infrastructure.
When Ypsilanti resident Bryan Foley's friend Harry Hampton asked him to help deliver bottled water to Flint residents, Foley had just one question: "Where do you need me to be?" Foley is one of many Washtenaw County residents who've reached out to Flint in varying ways since news of the full magnitude of the city's water crisis broke last month. Foley, Hampton and other friends and community partners have since led a water drive that's collected and delivered thousands of cases of bottled water to Flint. They've solicited donations outside the Ypsilanti Wal-Mart store and engaged Ypsilanti High School classes in a friendly competition to see who can muster the most water.
"The outpouring of the Ypsilanti community was way more than what we expected or anticipated," Foley says.
Many options for helping in Grand Rapids
The residents of Grand Rapids were coming out in droves to lend a hand to those in need, and in response
the team at Rapid Growth wrote a story to help people find the best ways to donate time, money and supplies.
Kalamazoo lends a hand
Kalamazooans had multiple opportunities to show their solidarity with Flint by sending water north.
One successful collection effort was conducted by the Kalamazoo Public Schools. More than 100 students, faculty members, administrators and school board members were part of a “Stuff the Bus” event that collected more than 1,200 cases, most of which have 24 bottles each.
Student participants included members of the Loy Norrix men's basketball team, Peace Jam club and Link Crew, as well as Kalamazoo Central's football team. The effort is one of many that have been mounted in recent days as concern about the Flint water crisis continues.
Transportation of the water to Flint was made possible by KSS Enterprises. The company provides cleaning supplies for the school district. KSS drivers delivered two truck loads of water to state-designated drop off points in Flint.
"One thing you can say about the Kalamazoo community is when someone is in need, we come together really well," Wells-Lindsay said.
Kalamazoo Central sophomore Anaia Hawkins echoed his sentiments. "It's scary to see something like this in Michigan. It's good everyone wanted to help out."
A few suggestions regarding state policies
Over at Model D Media, suggestions have been flying around about how to best fix the Flint water issue and how to prevent another crisis like this from happening again. The opinion piece, penned by Michele Oberholtzer, outlines some very solid ideas that we, as a state, should really consider implementing. No, really. We need to take a solid look at some of these suggestions and turn them into more than just talking points.
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The middle school students of Flint
While it's easy to see some of the major situations being caused by the Flint water crisis, some other factors just aren't being pulled into the spotlight and examined. One of those issues is how disruptive this crisis has become for middle school students who already struggle with trying to find "normal" in their everyday lives. Over at Inspired, Natalie Burg wrote a piece looking at that very issue and what is being done in Flint and the surrounding communities to reduce the long-term impact.
Put yourself in the shoes of a Flint middle schooler, with all of the social pressure and awkwardness of adolescence, and imagine coming to school feeling greasy and dirty every day — and then trying to learn.
"That has a dramatic impact on these middle school kids," says Dr. Lisa Hagel, superintendent Genesee Intermediate School District. "It's disruptive. And they just want to be normal."
A Michigan-wide issue
Unfortunately, not all the news is good news. The crisis in Flint has caused other communities to look inward, and what can sometimes be found is staggering.
This story from Southwest Michigan's Second Wave reports on the fact that it's not just Flint that is having to deal with lead in their water supply. And if that's the case in Kalamazoo, then what about other cities across the state, other municipalities?
Kalamazoo City Commissioner Matt Milcarek has been thinking a lot about lead exposure in light of Flint's crisis. Really, he has been thinking about a troubling lead problem – concentrated in pockets of Kalamazoo – for quite some time.
Milcarek is not only a newly elected city commissioner, he is a licensed lead inspector and risk assessor. Through his decade of work in residential construction, including his present position as the Construction Manager for Kalamazoo Neighborhood Housing Services, he oversees a variety of lead abatement rehabilitation projects in homes in Kalamazoo.
On a personal level, he has a child with elevated blood lead levels. He and his family live in the heart of the Vine neighborhood, one of the city’s historic districts, with predominantly older homes. Even though they knew the precautions to take, their daughter became exposed to lead through lead dust found in their home.
You can find stories like these, and more, by visiting Second Wave Media and all of the various Issue Media Group publications, including those above and more.
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