Since April 2014, lead poisoning has plagued residents of Flint, Michigan. In April 2014, the city– under state receivership- switched its water source from Detroit to the Flint River. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality neglected to inform Flint that the city must treat its water for corrosion control,a pipe coating that keeps drinking water from becoming contaminated with lead from old water mains. There is something disturbing about the thousands of residents of Flint that have been drinking and using contaminated water for months or even years; when the state leaders can not deliver basic services, such as drinking clean water.

Since the water change has been made, the number of residents in Flint that have been getting sick and poisoned, has doubled. The Black Student Union (BSU), a club that strives to give students an outlet to express their views on matters relevant to the black american society, decided that since they are not able to physically deliver water bottles to the citizens of Flint, they can instead raise money to donate to foundations that have been set up to supply the people of Flint. “We couldn’t sit back and do nothing while all these people are struggling,” said senior and member of BSU, Stephanie Chigbu.

Students of ERHS definitely seem upset about the issue and are trying their best to help in any way possible. Senior and president of BSU, Bailey Woodruff,  believes that it is “unfortunate and is crazy to think that the officials have been poisoning their people with something that we take for granted.” Similarly, senior Darian Ruffin, feels as if “there is a lack of taking responsibility.” Ruffin continued mentioning that “they’re spending more time placing blame rather than trying to fix the problem.”