Carpentersville fire officials hope those who shop for bottled water will put some extra cases in their carts for the citizens of Flint, Mich.
President Barack Obama recently declared a federal state of emergency involving lead-contaminated drinking water in the city.
The Carpentersville Fire Department is joining several Illinois police and fire departments to collect cases of bottled water for those affected by the water crisis.
Area individuals and organizations wishing to support the effort can drop off cases through Thursday, Jan. 28, at Fire Station 91, 213 Spring St., Carpentersville.
Those donations will be trucked over to the Buffalo Grove Police Department Friday and then transported to Flint along with other donations from throughout northwest suburbs, said Carpentersville Fire Chief John Skillman.
While some cases of water have already been dropped off, he hopes to see more people join the effort to get clean water to Michigan.
“We realize that in Carpentersville we have a great water system and could not imagine what these people are going through,” he said. “We thought the residents of Carpentersville would want to be part of assisting the city of Flint.”
Erin Sauder is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
