501CTHREE and the Mississippi Rapid Response Coalition Bring the Water Box to Jackson, MS
JACKSON, Miss., March 16, 2022 (Newswire.com) - 501CTHREE and the Mississippi Rapid Response Coalition (MRRC) have launched the Water Box at the Sykes Park Community Center located at 520 Sykes Rd, Jackson, MS 39212. The Water Box has provided clean, safe water distributions to Jackson and the surrounding community as of Feb. 23, 2022.
501CTHREE.org, the organization which developed the Water Box program, is a non-profit reimagined for the next generation. Since its inception in 2019, 17 water boxes have been deployed across the USA, providing 100,000+ gallons of free drinking water to community members and replacing 850,000+ 16 oz. plastic bottles.
Jackson, Mississippi, faces frequent storms which leave its residents without clean running water, sometimes for over a month. Jackson has faced their water issues for decades and is home to a majority of Black residents.
"In Jackson, where racial and environmental justice are prominent issues, we've been fortunate to work with MRRC to further our shared mission of addressing social inequities by giving everyone access to safe water." - Drew Fitzgerald, Co-Founder, 501CTHREE.
The Water Box launched in collaboration with the Mississippi Rapid Response Coalition (MRRC), a coalition of community organizations with a mission to provide rapid relief to communities in crisis in Mississippi. 501CTHREE and MRRC came together after the community voiced its concerns about poor drinking water infrastructure during winter storms and, after testing samples and confirming the presence of contaminants in Jackson's water, the organizations began working together to deploy the Water Box at Sykes Park Community Center. The clean drinking water will be tested by coalition members, the People's Advocacy Institute's staff, and distributed to Jackson residents and the general public.
"Our mission at the Mississippi Rapid Response Coalition is to listen to the needs of our community and find solutions to the problems they are facing. Collaborating with 501CTHREE to provide clean drinkable water to our community allows us to accomplish a small part of our larger goal-making our community whole," said Rukia Lumumba, People's Advocacy Institute's Executive Director.
The Water Box with Mississippi Rapid Response Coalition was made possible by a donation by The Solutions Project.
"Following last year's ice storm, PAI, one of our grantee partners, approached us about Water Box being a valuable community-owned asset. Understanding the need for the community to have access and ownership over a clean water source, we responded and agreed to sponsor," said Gloria Walton, President and CEO of The Solutions Project. "Growing up in Jackson, Mississippi, and seeing my family experience several of these winter storms in the past years highlighted the lack of water infrastructure that exists in many Black communities. At a time where structural inequities are exacerbated due to a global pandemic and the climate crisis, it's important for organizations like 501CTHREE and MRRC to show up for the local community and provide resources."
Media Contacts:
Sophia Donskoi
Source: 501CTHREE