Support emergency water deliveries in Detroit

COVID-19 has cast a bright spotlight on water shutoffs.

In response, we’ve seen the governor order service be restored, extensive media coverage and a flock of new voices joining debates about best ways to provide this essential service.

Yet all this attention hasn’t translated into enough immediate action. Today, upwards of 10,000 Detroit residents lack running water in their homes!

Thank goodness for We the People of Detroit.

Working outside the headlines, this small grassroots organization heroically tries to right this embarrassing wrong, buying and giving water to Detroit and Highland Park residents who don’t have it.

They need your help! Could you make a donation today in support of We The People of Detroit’s essential work? Especially in the critical time of COVID response, your $10, $25 or $50 (or more!) could mean the difference between good health and a health crisis for someone.

Every month, WPD staff and volunteers (known as “Water Warriors") deliver cases of water to emergency water stations across the region or to homes of residents who have disabilities or lack access to transportation. The service has been provided since 2014 when the city launched a water shutoff campaign. Since the start of the pandemic, WPD has delivered 2 million bottles of water.

Click here to learn more about WPD’s water deliveries.

WPD also has its sights on developing a sustainable solution that permanently solves this issue. They are crucial partners in MEC’s efforts to enact lasting policies that ensure everyone has access to clean, safe and affordable water. For example, their recent report, Mapping the Water Crisis, raises public awareness about the connections between race and water austerity policies.

The organization was formed in 2008 by five Black women—Chris Griffith, Aurora Harris, Monica Lewis-Patrick, Cecily McClellan and Debra Taylor—as a response to the state-ordered emergency manager takeover of the city and its school system.

At the time, emergency water deliveries weren’t what they had in mind. But helping their residents was. So, they didn’t hesitate to act when this need arose.

“We know water emergency delivery is not the end all or be all,” says Ms. Taylor. “But it is a lifeline of humanity and compassion to our fellow citizens who find themselves in this precarious and very unfortunate situation.”

MEC is proud to be a partner of this important group. And we invite you to join us in supporting its work to extend a lifeline to Michiganders during this trying time.

Please make a tax-deductible donation to support We the People of Detroit’s emergency water relief efforts. Every dollar you give will go directly to this needed service. Help them help our fellow Michiganders.

Click here to give now.