REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. (April 7, 2016) -- Employees at the U.S. Aviation and Missile Research Development, and Engineering Center demonstrated their willingness to serve outside the workplace by donating more than 60 cases of water to the Flint, Michigan community.
"The Quality Management Division is very family oriented," explained QM's Chief Valerie Harris. "Several of us have family and friends in the Flint area and we wanted to do something to help."
David Walton, QM's product quality manager, was moved to start the initiative while watching the evening news.
"I watched a breaking story about lead in Flint Michigan's water," said Walton. "The first thing that came to my mind was, 'What is it that we can do to help this crisis?' "
Walton partnered with the division and began requesting water and money to help Flint. Within three weeks, QM employees met at a local church to load more than 60 cases of water on a semi-truck headed to Michigan.
"David Walton started the ball rolling by informing us of an opportunity to send water to help the residents," Harris said. "Everyone was on board and the money started pouring in."
In April 2014, Flint changed its water source from treated Detroit Water and Sewerage Department water to the Flint River. The lead contamination in the new drinking water created serious public health problems.
Flint, Michigan, was declared in a state of emergency by Governor Rick Synder, and soon after, President Barack Obama declared Flint a federal state of emergency. He authorized additional help from the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which recently extended the federal emergency until August 2016.
The QM team plans on gathering additional donations in the coming months for the city of Flint.
"We will continue to support the Warfighter as well as our communities," said Harris.
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