Hamilton man delivered more than 10,000 water bottles to Flint

A Hamilton man has personally delivered more than 10,000 bottles of water to Flint, Michigan to help Hamilton's twin city with its ongoing water crisis.

Craig McNeill, a Hamilton man who works for a warehousing company in Milton, arrived home early Saturday morning, from a 16-hour round trip to Flint, where he personally brought 10,200 Canadian bottled waters in the hopes of some relief for the city. This was the first of three trips he's planned to help Flint.

When I saw their faces, I saw just how relieved they were that they had water.- Craig McNeill

McNeill, who says he's not one to typically get involved in charitable donations like these, said he was reading stories about the struggles of Flint's citizens, and was compelled to take action himself.

"It affected me, the whole story. The people of Flint are getting kicked around," he said.

"I saw a story about a guy in a house, who gets rations of water and gives it to the kids, then he says there's nothing left for me That kind of upset me, that people in our area can't get fresh water."

• READ MORE:Flint water crisis: sister city Hamilton offers help

That particular story inspired McNeill to post to Facebook, asking for donations to help him with paying for the water and the cost of the trip. Hours later, he had received $400 in pledges from Hamilton citizens and members of the public, including Anne Tennier, Geraldine McMullen and Michael DiLivio.

McNeill took a few days to plan, then on Jan. 29, drove his own car down to Sarnia, where he rented a truck and picked up skids of water bottles with the money he had raised.

Across the border

With his truck loaded, he headed for Michigan. McNeill let the border know ahead of time that he'd be coming through.

"These guys were fantastic, when they found out Canada was sending water, they sent me through the line," he said.

McNeill's first stop was the Eastern Michigan Food Bank in Flint. He was received by Dan Filipovich, the food bank's operations team leader. Filipovich said they'd had plenty of water come in from organizations and other drives from around the country, but this was the location's first international delivery.

"What he did is definitely unique," said Filipovich. "Everything else is people just doing water drives, then bringing in the water It's a real testament to his character with all the hoops he had to jump through himself."

Filipovich says Flint has entered into the second phase in battling the tainted water in the city by fixing the piping. Itrecently switched over to the Detroit water line, andnow have plenty of water to goaround and help the people of Flint bathe and drink.

However, food banks will still be taking in any water they can, said Filipovich, and they'll be able to distribute the bottles to the places in the city that are still in need.

Next stop

After McNeill's stop at the food bank, he took two more pallets of water to a Flint fire station, where members of the national guard helped him unload and distribute.

He said that five or six people living in Flint came up to the station to get some of the bottles of water. It was then that McNeill really got a first-hand look at the effects of the crisis that he had been reading about.

"When I saw their faces, I saw just how relieved they were that they had water," he said.