We The People Will Fix The Flint Water Crisis
2/17/19 Update
$2,386 dollars were successfully donated to the United Way of Genesee County!
2/4/19 Update
After weeks of research and phone calls we determined that donating directly to the replacement of the Flint Water Pipes was unobtainable, there was no infrastructure the city had ready to take a donation like this, nor could offer help to make it possible. After coordinating with GoFundMe and our Donors, we've determined that next best option for the funds will be to donate to Flint's sponsored Flint Water Fund, hosted by the United Way of Genesee County. To recap, this charity helps supply bottled water to residents who still rely on it, filtration devices to families who have not received one yet, and healthcare access to children affected by lead. We will be closing this campaign once the donation has been made, which I will verify in the last update. Thank you again to those who have donated for going out of your way to make a difference, we're going to make a difference, even if it's a small one; because every action counts.
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• My name is James Masino, I have a facebook page as a person and I actually care about other people.
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The government has accepted large private donations before, most recently a billionaire (Elon Musk) donated $480,000 to bring clean water to Flint's schools; this is no different.
Like a majority of those American citizens who voted to elect Hillary Clinton/Bernie Sanders, we voted for a sane United States. President Trump's main campaign promise was to WASTE AS MUCH MONEY AS POSSIBLE. And he's following through on that promise with the help of the GoFundMe campaign "We The People Will Fund The Wall", who has raised, as of writing this, $18 million dollars of its $1 billion dollar goal.
As an average citizen, who has given so much to not have affordable healthcare, I feel deeply invested to this nation to ensure future generations have everything we have today. Too many poor Americans have been murdered by lack of access to food, shelter, and in Flint's case, clean drinking water where dozens have died. Those who have died for being poor now have no means of ever contributing to our society.
I have grandparents who received clean drinking water legally, they did it the correct way and it's time we uphold our laws, and provide clean drinking water for all AMERICANS!It's up to Americans to help out and pitch in to get this project rolling.
"If the 65 million people who voted for Clinton each pledge $80, we can fix Flint's water crisis." That equates to a quote by me, also that equates to roughly 5Billion Dollars, even if we get half, that's half a non-lead filled child. We can do this.
Republicans are going to stall this project by every means possible and play political games to ensure all of Flint's children continue to be poisoned by lead. They'd rather see children die, than see America succeed. However, if we can fund a large portion of this clean water, it will jumpstart things and will be less money that has to be secured from our politicians.
This won't be easy, but it's our duty as citizens. This needs to be shared every single day by each of you on social media. We can do it, we can help make drinking water safe again!
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• How do you know this is not a scam? I'm using my real name, you heard right, my real name. You can contact me and hold me accountable that I love clean drinking water for children. People who try to scam you will not be upfront about how much they hate brown people, they might even ask you to build a 3,000 mile wall. I have a Facebook page that verifies that I own two cats. I'm a student studying Animation, and lost three years of sleep. I have a website JamesMasino.com where you can verify more about me. I will respond. I have never been on Fox News, not even once, so you can see I'm a credible and a real person. Do your research before donating, and contact me if you have any questions.
• How will we get the funds to the right place? We have contacted Flint's mayor to secure a point of contact where all the funds will go upon completion (You can trust me, I'm using my real name) When we get this information secured we will update. We have many very high level contacts already helping, including my mom.
• No Republican Representatives will ever pass a bill that will address children being poisoned in a predominantly African American community.
• 100% of your donations will go to replacing Flint's lead filled water pipes.
• We will hold all funds and not release a single penny until we have all legal aspects covered to ensure our money goes only to providing clean drinking water to children in Flint, Michigan.
LET'S SAVE THESE CHILDREN! And make America safe to drink water in again!
James Masino
ACTIVIST
JAMESMASINO.COM
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So I wanted to add a genuine and serious epilogue to the end of this. I made this campaign out of the passion I felt against the maddening ability for so many Americans to be so extremely hateful when real, tangible, problems exist in our world. We refuse to take care of each other at the expense of everyone. The Flint Water Crisis is a disaster in every sense, and the fact that so many children were poisoned with no immediate action is a blatant crime against humanity. There is nothing great about an America that allows this to happen.
This campaign is a critique and a statement against Americans who blindly donate to causes with no facts at their disposal. Any donations this actually receives will be, and must be per GoFundMe's guidelines, used for the stated cause. The above writing about this campaign is a parody of the "We The People Will Fund The Wall" campaign, though its arguments are real.
What is the Flint Water Crisis?
In 2011, the state of Michigan took over Flint's finances, and in order to reduce a shortfall, the city announced a new pipeline would be built to deliver water from Lake Huron. (Even though a water pipe system from Huron already existed, and was already in use) During this, the Flint River became the city's primary water source. Immediately, residents noticed a difference.
Tests later indicated in 2015 by the EPA showed dangerous levels of lead in Flint's water. This was caused by the decaying of iron pipes after the city failed to treat the water with an anti-corrosive agent. More than a dozen lawsuits, including several class-action suits were filed against the state of Michigan. But of course the damage was done, Flint's residents had been exposed to dangerous levels of lead for years.
As of July 2018, 37 percent of an estimated 18,000 lead water service lines had been replaced, with the expectation to have them all replaced by the end of 2019. Which is quite the awfully slow response to providing non-poisoned water to everyday Americans, and especially to those in poverty where having to purchase bottled water is a severe cost to those on a budget.
Any dollars raised by this campaign will go towards completing the replacement of the pipes as quickly as possible. If we can find $18 million dollars for a steel wall, Flint shouldn't have to wait another year to get clean pipes.
The state of Michigan has estimated the cost to fix Flint's Pipes at $55 million, which is where the campaign's goal number comes from (and additionally, is still a comment about how much less it costs than a steel border wall.)
Personal Information On Myself:
I am a student at the Savannah College of Art and Design where I've been pursuing a bachelor's degree in Animation. I am also a freelance illustrator, and up until last November, I worked on a congressional campaign fighting to make progressive ideals a priority in the state of Georgia. I have a passion for creating dialogues in my work. Work that is more than just entertainment is important because art has the power to move people emotionally. I produce short films and other animated projects, organize activism in my community where I volunteer for non-profits, mentor at Climate Reality, and attended the Global Climate Action Summit in 2018 as a Youth Delegate.
This campaign is just a personal comment of mine when it comes to how the United States views priorities, I feel strongly that we need to take action on issues like Flint's water crisis even if we're not directly involved. Not standing up for a crisis that doesn't directly affect you allows for that crisis to become normalized, in Flint's case, this has been a decade in the making. Some communities don't have the resources to fight back, and we need to step up and make sure no community is ever subjected to this sort of tragedy. Period. I hope more people will become the change they want to see in the world to address these issues.