On the water front
Corrections officers’ water donation takes on the Flint crisis
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Burlington County Correction Officers Local 249 State Delegate Terrence Benson exited
his local Walmart with 10 cases of water. As he was loading his car, passersby wondered if
the man was preparing for anything from Hurricane Matthew to a government
takeover to a zombie apocalypse.
“A guy came over as I was packing the water in my car and asked, ‘Is there
some crisis I need to know about?’” Benson related. “I laughed and said, ‘No, I’m
sending them to Flint,’ and he opened his wallet and gave me some cash and
said, ‘Buy some more from me.’”
Benson had the idea to purchase bottles of water to send to Flint, Michigan –
whose drinking water has been contaminated with lead since April 2014 when
the city changed its water source from the treated Detroit Water and Sewerage
Department to the Flint River – after Westampton Mayor Andre Daniels
announced on Facebook that he was doing the same.
Following Benson’s parking lot inspiration, he returned to the State PBA Corrections Committee to relate the story.
“Without
When his son once mentioned that he'd like to wear
the hesitation, they said ‘great’ and took the idea back to the Locals,”
Benson noted. “Each one donated $250.”
A fortnight later, the Committee began the process of designing custom bottles, which resulted in 6,000 being made that feature the NJ State PBA logo and
Woodbridge Headquarters, as well as the words “NJ Cares” and “A gift for the
people of Flint from the New Jersey State Policemen’s Benevolent Association.”
“My contact lady in Michigan was ecstatic – she started crying over the
phone,” Benson expressed. “She was very appreciative of New Jersey and the
corrections officers of New Jersey. I think we were the first police agency to send
water from a different state…all in the name of the NJ State PBA.”
NEW JERSEY COPS
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OCTOBER
2016