Here’s Who Has Donated the Most Bottled Water to Flint
As the situation in Flint, Mich., turns bleaker and bleaker, aid from across the country is pouring in to help residents unable to access safe drinking water.
Walmart, in partnership with Pepsi , Coca-Cola, and Nestle, announced Tuesday that it will deliver 6.5 million bottles of water to public school kids in the city, the largest single donation to the disaster relief efforts yet. That's in addition to hundreds of thousands of bottles the retail giant has already donated.
Flint's water supply was poisoned with high levels of lead after the city switched from the Detroit water system to the Flint River to cut costs. A federal state of emergency has been declared.
But Walmart is far from the only brand name that has made efforts to aid Flint. Many celebrities are making their donations public, hoping to encourage others to do the same. The largest public donations yet include:
- Sean Combs and Mark Wahlberg's bottled water company pledged to give 1 million bottles. This includes help from hip hop artists Wiz Khalifa and Detroit-native Eminem.
- Pearl Jam gave $300,000 total (the rockers pledged $125,000 and collected an additional $175,000.)
- Nestle, in addition to aiding Walmart, has given over 190,000 bottles of water since October.
- Cher partnered with Icelandic Glacial to donate 181,440 bottles of water, according to Billboard. She also publicly called for Michigan Governor Rick Snyder to step down.
- Detroit Lions players have donated upwards of 94,000 bottles, led by defensive end Ezekiel Ansah, according to Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press.
- Detroit Lions charities have donated an undisclosed amount of money to the United Way to aid in the transportation of water.
- AT&T Michigan is donating $50,000.
- Meek Mill reportedly promised $50,000.
- Big Sean, a Detroit native, has raised over $21,000 on crowdrise.com.
- Jack White's Third Man Records has raised over $12,000 on crowdrise.com.
- Jimmy Fallon donated $10,000 to the Community Foundation of Greater Flint, and asked 10 people to match him.
Others, including Matt Damon, Mark Ruffalo, Flint-native Michael Moore, and more, have called for Gov. Snyder to resign.
If you want to help Flint, you can donate at multiple websites, including good360.org, via the United Way of Genesee County, and through flintkids.org. You can also donate your time through the Red Cross.