Members of a new Bellevue High School social justice and activism club banded together last week to collect money for the citizens of Flint, Michigan to buy drinkable water, raising over $1,700.
“When I learned about what was going on in Flint, I felt like it was really wrong and I had to do something about it,” said Alexis Choi, president of the student club that organized the “BHStoFlint” fundraiser.
Between 20 and 30 students and “Bending the Arc” club members helped raise money between March 7-10. The club arranged multiple ways to raise money, including setting up donation boxes at a few local businesses and arranging a teacher contest in which the teacher who raised the most money would be pied in the face.
The club even produced a video for the high school’s weekly student news channel, alerting students to the water problems and Flint and advertising their fundraiser.
But perhaps the most talked-about and unique aspect of Bending the Arc’s fundraiser was the “human vending machine” that was set up in the school during lunch and passing periods — a concept Choi called “so weird, but effective.”
Club members would crouch inside the handmade cardboard vending machine and distribute water bottles to paying students. The bottles were the same price as those sold elsewhere on campus, but each dollar went to the fundraiser.
Some students put $5, $10, even $20 bills into the vending machine.
“Sometimes it’s not about a fundraiser, though — it’s about getting students aware of what’s going on … It was so evident that these students came up with these ideas that would work with their peers and were so creative,” said Bellevue High School teacher Terry Jess, who also acts as an advisor to the student club that organized BHStoFlint.
The idea for a fundraiser for Flint came about when the club was talking about privilege and environmental racism — the idea that low-income or minority communities are often placed in close proximity to environmental hazards or problematic environments. Given that the majority of Flint’s population is black and many are poor, the slow response to the community’s water conditions has led to many student conversations about racism, Jess said.
Racism and injustice is a topic that many high school students shy away from, either because they’re uncomfortable talking about it or apathetic to problems that don’t seem to immediately affect them. But, as Choi said, Flint isn’t the only community to experience water quality issues.
In 2014, Mercer Island was put on a boil-water advisory after E.coli was found in the city’s aging pipes. That is the same year that the lack of new lead filters reportedly led to high concentrations of lead in Flint drinking water. While Mercer Island’s issues have been resolved, Flint’s have not.
Problems like these happen across America, Choi said, but even if they didn’t, action is key.
“I kept on thinking back to the Martin Luther King Jr. quote — ‘Injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere,'” she said.
The Bellevue High School Bending the Arc branch is the first high school level of the local initiative, which also operates out of Bellevue College and the University of Washington.
BHStoFlint was their first-ever fundraiser, and was one from which the club members learned a great deal, Choi said.
“This whole experience helps me think that people can come together and make a difference, regardless of age,” she said.
All of the money raised by the Bending the Arc club’s fundraiser is being donated to the United Way of Genesee County’s Flint Water Fund. All of the money donated will be used for the purchase of filters, water bottles, emergency support services and prevention efforts, according to the organization.
