“The donations come in from across the country, from every type of faith community and children asking for donations for Flint for their birthdays,” Horton said. “It’s an astonishing show of generosity.”
A few blocks south on Saginaw Street, Michael McDaniel is in charge of a program called “FAST Start,” with the aim of replacing all lead service lines in the city in one year. Despite its name, only 33 homes have had the work done since the program’s February launch. The former brigadier general of the Michigan National Guard describes a bogged-down infrastructure repair program hamstrung by lack of money and manpower.
It is the recipient of an unprecedented-for-Michigan commitment of philanthropic largesse, with well over $150 million in government and charitable aid in the city now and at least three times that still on its way. Dozens of public service initiatives have launched or expanded to help city residents, from early childhood education programs to pop-up farmers markets.
But beyond the bottled water, progress in Flint is difficult to measure. Few of the pipes that leached lead into the drinking water have been replaced. And the success of efforts to counteract the brain-damaging effects of lead poisoning in Flint’s children won’t be known for years, if ever.