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Flint Water Crisis: 4 Our Families Telethon Raises Over One Million Dollars

The people of Michigan pulled together to make a powerful impact on what’s being called an American tragedy.

The "Flint Water Crisis: 4 Our Families" telethon is going to help more than 8,000 children get long-term support for issues stemming from exposure to lead.

And it’s all thanks to your support.

Volunteers fielded phone calls all day yesterday to help collect donations for the multi-station effort.

And thanks to you, the telethon raised 1,133,964 dollars.

“As the national spotlight begins to fade, people in Michigan remember that we still have a serious lead crisis here,” said Community Foundation of Greater Flint President Kathi Horton.

A whole city exposed to toxic levels of lead — it’s children left to deal with the potentially long-term consequences.

The Community Foundation of Greater Flint started the Flint Kids Fund and plans to use the money raised during the telethon to make a real difference.

“We’ve got a 20-year commitment to them. They’re going to need some extra supports all the way through childhood into adulthood.”

Down the road, these kids may have developmental disabilities and learning disorders because of lead exposure.

It was important for volunteer Heidi Mcara to let donors know how pressing the issue is.

“Just the opportunity to educate people about the ongoing needs of the children, not just the immediate needs of clean water, the long term ramifications of lead poisoning and the continued resources they’ll need in years to come,” Mcara said.

Contributions were matched by pistons owner tom gores up to one million dollars.

Volunteer Ron Stack says with a daughter at home, helping out was a no-brainer.

“My daughter’s eight and you know when you have children you want the best for them. And something like this is just heartbreaking. Whatever I can do, this is easy,” Stack said.

The telethon involved six TV stations across the state and drew support from every corner of Michigan.

“People can automatically understand what it must be like to deal with, to worry about your baby drinking bath water or getting a drink out of the faucet,” Horton said.

Don’t worry if you missed the telethon. You can visit for more information on how to contribute.

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