An MDC worker from Connecticut is determined to help those in the midst of water crisis in Michigan, and his mission goes beyond collecting donations. He and a team of volunteers are making it their mission not just to collect the water, but also to deliver it.
Kenneth Hinson, of Torrington, visited Flint, Michigan after reading the headlines about their tainted water. The heartbreaking stories hit close to home partly because of what he does for work.
“I work for a water company and that’s more of a reason why I said we need to do something because we deal with water every day,” Hinson said.
After seeing the water crisis up close, he began collecting water with the help of several organizations including the Capitol City Ryders. Since they got the idea to do it three months ago, their collection has grown to more than 3,000 cases of water.
“You see the people in Flint and they really need the water,” Hinson said. “They’re getting sores on their arms because the water is so messed up and it’s sad.”
He and a team of volunteers are going to travel to Flint next week, because after taking pictures at distribution centers, Hinson saw a need.
“People in poor areas were not able to come and get the water because they can’t lift 40 pounds on a bus,” Hinson said.
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Hinson and his team are going to go house to house delivering the water they collected to the people who might not otherwise be able to get it. He plans on taking three truckloads worth of water and a charter bus of 50 volunteers to help a community almost 700 miles away.
“This is Connecticut and that’s Flint, Michigan, but people in Connecticut want to help people and we have to go wherever we have to go,” Norm Leblanc, a volunteer said.
The team plans on leaving April 29. For those interested in donating water, there are several drop-off locations: Enfield Motorsports, Gengras Harley Davidson in East Hartford, TSI Harley Davidson in Ellington and the Mickey Finns Honda on the Berlin Turnpike.
