Tamarkus T. Cook asked his congregation and other churches in his area to send “hope in a bottle” to Flint, Mich.
They responded by filling two truckloads of water with more on the way.
"I don't understand how something like this can happen in America," said Cook, pastor of Saint Smyrna Baptist Church in Newnan and a graduate of Morehouse College. He went to Flint to deliver water and to get a firsthand look at the situation.
“I think the world would be a better place if every time we were upset about something, instead of complaining, we all did something to change it,” Cook said.
The situation in Flint has drawn heavy fire from civil rights leaders and others. Bottled water has poured in from across the nation. Plumbers have volunteered to install water filters in Flint homes.
Jamal Bryant, pastor of Empowerment Temple AME Church in Baltimore, assembled a group of faith leaders, attorneys and entertainers to help Flint residents. The group held an environmental justice rally in Flint on Monday, which Cook also attended.
The group included Atlanta attorney and reality star Phaedra Parks, businessman Russell Simmons and gospel recording artist Deitrick Haddon, and it has collected more than 47,000 bottles of water.
Metro Atlanta residents and organizations are also pitching in to help.
DeKalb Commissioner Stan Watson is partnering with the Atlanta Chapter of the NFL Players Association and the Georgia Pro Players to collect bottled water during his community breakfast from 9-11 a.m. Saturday in the cafeteria at Southwest DeKalb High School, 2863 Kelley Chapel Road in Decatur.
Mary-Pat Hector, an 18-year-old Spelman College freshman, led a group of concerned students in helping Flint residents. Hector went with a group of about 20 local college students that has collected and sent more than 12,000 bottles of water — mostly contributed by Hosea Feed the Hungry and Homeless — to Flint, and left Friday evening headed to the city.
The student group, members of the Atlanta chapter of the National Action Network’s Youth Move, worked with students from the University of Michigan and National Action Network members there to deliver the water to some of the city’s neediest residents, including the elderly and undocumented immigrants.
The Atlanta group, which returned on Sunday, pledged to return periodically to Flint to help deliver other supplies, including baby wipes and feminine hygiene products also donated by Hosea Feed the Hungry.
If you want to help:
- To donate water or other items to Flint residents through the Youth Move group, you can drop items off at the National Action Network's Atlanta office, 632 Peeples St. in Atlanta.
- Water is also being collected at the DeKalb Board of Commissioners, 1300 Commerce Drive, Decatur. Attn: Commissioner Stan Watson or bring it on Saturday to the breakfast.
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