Flint, Michigan native and Eastern Kentucky University men’s basketball player JaVontae Hawkins lent a hand to his hometown by participating in a Water Donation Drive on Feb. 2 at the Richmond Teen Center. All donations from the drive are going to those in need during Flint’s water crisis.
Hawkins, along with head coach Dan McHale, graduate assistant Bobby DiRaimo and teammates Greg King and Dujuanta Weaver, delivered cases of bottled water to the Richmond Parks and Recreation Building on Tuesday. The water will be donated to the Red Cross working in Flint.
“Flint is a small city, and people could easily overlook the problem,” Hawkins said. “But it means a lot that people from all over the country and all over the world are contributing water to help out my family and other families from Flint.”
The crisis is a personal matter to Hawkins because he has several family members, including four siblings, both parents and a grandmother, living in the Flint area.
Hawkins was also appreciative that his coach and teammates joined him at the drive.
“It means a lot,” he said. “It just shows that we’re a big family and that we’re all in this together.”
The water donation drive will last until Friday, February 5.
Donators are encouraged to drop off cases of bottled water at the Richmond Parks and Recreation Building (321 N. Second St.) between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m.
Call 859-623-8753 for more information.