A part-time student's modest project offering assistance to Flint residents over the water crisis has far exceeded her expectations, helping her raise thousands of dollars more than her goal.
Carrie Davis, 29, set up a GoFundMe page about a month ago, where her friends could send her money to buy water for Flint residents whose water is unusable because it is contaminated with lead.
It was an informal project and a way for the Wayne State University student's friends who couldn't bring water to the Michigan city themselves to donate money. She set a modest goal of raising $100. As of Wednesday morning, she had raised over $16,000 -- more than 100 times her initial goal.
Davis, who lives in Lansing but has friends and family in Flint, said that the rush of donations came after her efforts were featured on The Rachel Maddow blog. Several other GoFundMe campaigns have raised over $100,000 to provide water to Flint. A number of organizations in the city, including Mission of Hope, Catholic Charities of Shiawassee & Genesee Counties and the United Way of Genesee County are also helping with the issue.
She has used the funds to get two truckloads of water from WalMart -- 75,600 bottles -- delivered to Flint and plans to use the additional money to send one truck filled with water each week for the next six weeks
"It really renewed my faith in humanity. I never thought all these people would think about little old Flint," Davis told The Huffington Post.
The city's water was contaminated when it switched its source to the Flint River in 2014 and state officials didn't make sure the water wouldn't corrode municipal pipes. State health officials insisted the water was safe to drink until a pediatrician documented high levels of lead in the blood of children in September. Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) apologized for the crisis on Tuesday, saying he had let Flint residents down.
President Barack Obama has declared a state of emergency in Michigan over the crisis and the issue has gotten national attention on the presidential campaign trail. Hillary Clinton dispatched two campaign aides to Flint to meet with the city's mayor last week and her Democratic rival Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has called for Snyder's resignation.
While Davis welcomes the national attention on the issue, she said the focus should be on finding a solution to the problem instead of blaming Snyder or Obama.
"I think they should be looking at how to help," she said. "Obviously it was somebody's fault. I think at this point they need to look at how to help and what they can do as a nation to come together and help."
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