In the midst of Flint, Michigan’s dangerous water crisis, a group of Detroit high school students saw an opportunity to help the city’s senior citizen community.
The students are members of a team called “The Dream Kings” at Frederick Douglass Academy in Detroit, which partners with The Future Project. William Malcolm, the Detroit City Dream director for The Future Project, said the idea of donating water to Flint residents came from one of his students.
“A lot of times young people, they feel that in order to give back they have to be wealthy or they have to be in a certain position in life,” Malcolm said. “The boys learned from the initiative that they can take an idea and they can impact someone else’s life for the better.”
After receiving donations of bottled water, more than 40 high school students made the hour commute to Flint to hand-deliver over 300 cases of water to the Flint Heights Terrace senior living facility. The residents were unaware of the students’ mission, Malcolm explained.
“The first resident was just overcome,” he continued. “She started crying and tearing up, and one of the students that was with our group, he got emotional as well.”
Based on the success of the event, The Dream Kings are making “Water for Flint” an annual event. It’s not only helping communities in Flint, Malcolm said, but also society at large.
“It just more than shows the world that young African American, young men of color can be and are assets to our society,” Malcolm said.
This video was produced by Felicia Kelley.
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