Teens Collect 30,000+ Bottles for Mississippi Water Drive

I’m A Star Foundation Teen Influencers, Duval County Public Schools and JaxParks collected a total of 30,161 bottles of water to send to Jackson, MS.  For four hours steadily residents pulled up in their cars and dropped off packs of water at the Mississippi Water Drive at James Weldon Johnson Park. Teen volunteers from I’m A Star Foundation, 5000 Role Models of Excellence, Raines High School Royal Court and Andrew Jackson High School Royal Court worked together collecting cases, passing out thank you cards and keeping a count.  Thanks to generous donations from sponsors, their selected staff will deliver donations to Jackson, MS. The sponsorship includes the cost of an overnight stay for the driver.

I’m A Star Foundation Executive Director Mrs. Betty Burney set an internal goal to collect 3,000 bottles. “Students are overjoyed to have exceeded that goal by 10 times,” said Burney.

In response to a request from Jackson Public Schools, the organization’s goal was to collect and send clean water specifically to help children under age 6 and pregnant women who are at high risk for lead poisoning. Mississippi health officials lifted a boil-advisory in the water crisis and Jackson city officials stopped the distribution of free bottled water. But state officials say lead in some pipes remains so worrisome that pregnant women and young children should still use bottled water.  There are 3,158 Pre-K and Kindergarten students in Jackson, Mississippi.