Fayon Jones and Shanika Jackson have decided to take a stand and start a bottled water drive and move the truck fund to help those in need due to the water crisis of Flint, Mich.
The two Tallahassee mothers joined together on Friday at the Self-Storage Facility on West Orange Avenue taking in donations of cased bottled water and monetary donations to help move a delivery truck to Flint.
Jones and Jackson both wanted to help out the people of Flint after expressing their feelings about the crisis on Facebook.
Jones said she used this as a teaching lesson for her children to understand that they don’t have to sit back and watch as things happen, they can get involved.
“I was just trying to be an example to my kids. A lot of people just talk about the issues and complain about the issues and I want them to see; I talk to them about a lot of issues but they haven’t seen me really go out and act on an issue, so that was my opportunity,” Jones said.
Jackson said after seeing and hearing about the health issues involved, that’s what really moved her to want to try and help out.
“What moved me is when I saw a picture of a young man who had rashes over his face, I felt moved and compelled to want to help out because easily it could be Tallahassee,” she said.
After just one day of collecting, their total number of cased bottled water reached 1,144 and are continuing to grow as the collection drive continues.
Kellee Bennett and her mother Patricia Peterson, both Famu alumna, donated 12 cases of water saying they think Jones’s and Jackson’s effort is amazing.
“I think it’s amazing,” Peterson said. “For somebody to do something, it may be small to some people but it’s a huge effort by the community and them just wanting to do this, it’s just wonderful, it’s amazing.”
Tallahassee resident, Erica Harrison donated three cases and said she’s blessed she could donate and help out.
“I wanted to do a little on my part, because I’m blessed that I can do a little bit to help,” she said.
Jones and Jackson are continuing to collect cases of bottled water as well as monetary donations to help fund the truck for deliveries and or purchase additional water.
Donations can be dropped off to the Self-Storage facility on West Orange Avenue Tuesday – Thursday between 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. and they ask that you leave your contact information as they will be sending out updates on their progress.
For more information on how you can help move that truck to Flint, contact Fayon Jones at brcwearableart@gmail.com.