Samuel Lockridge was driving to work Wednesday morning when he came up with the ambitious idea – collect as much water as possible and drive it to Flint, Michigan.
Lockridge is a Central Middle School special education teacher who has already arranged time off to make the trip. He said donations started coming in immediately to help those affected by the contaminated water crisis in Flint.
"Our goal was to fill up one U-Haul truck with bottled water," said Lockridge. "We've exceeded that. So now we're looking at a 26-footer or more than one U-Haul vehicle."
The entire KCK school district is also joining in on the effort.
Drop off locations include:
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Metropolitan Baptist Temple - 853 Washington Blvd.
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Mt. Olive Baptist Church.
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Crossfit Gym in KCK - 7th and 435.
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Pinnacle Career Institute in Lawrence.
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Wyandotte County Courthouse Treasury Dept.
Lockridge has also started a GoFundMe page where monetary donations can be made.
Lockridge and his team will collect donations through Thursday, Jan. 28 at 6 p.m. They plan on driving to Flint on Friday morning.
The only problem left to overcome is the cost of the truck rental carrying the overwhelming amount of water.
“All of the major trucking and transportation companies, including U-Haul, Penske, Budget and Ryder have all quoted us over $1,000 to make this possible."
Joshua Hatchett is a friend of Lockridge who is helping with the endeavor and is very passionate about seeing this project through completion.
"Imagine how much water a day we use; to bathe, to drink, to do anything. Our normal every day functions. How much water do we use, that we take for granted? Now take that into consideration for the people of Flint, Michigan,” Hatchett said.
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Josh Helmuth can be reached at josh.helmuth@kshb.com.
