Cher to Flint residents: "You're not forgotten"

With national attention, the story of the Flint water crisis has impacted many outside of the state.

Including Cher.

On Saturday, the artist announced she is donating 181,000 bottles of water to the city after calling Flint Mayor Karen Weaver to ask how she could help. The water started rolling into the Food Bank of Eastern Michigan today.

“You’re not forgotten,” Cher told residents of Flint on Stateside today.

The Flint water crisis has gained national attention over the last week after President Barack Obama signed an emergency declaration to have federal help in Flint. Since then, there has been widespread outrage over the crisis – from 2016 presidential candidates calling on Gov. Rick Snyder to resign, to protests at the governor’s residence in Ann Arbor.  

Cher said she found it outrageous for state oversight and an emergency manager, who is tasked with managing the city above the local leaders, to control Flint since 2011. The last emergency manager left in April, and the city remains under a state oversight board.

“But I don’t think that you send in one person with absolute power that has to answer to no one but a Republican governor,” Cher said. “It’s not correct.”

Cher partnered with Icelandic Glacier Water Company, which agreed to match her donation.

“These children will not be able to achieve the life other children will be able to,” Cher said. “With that, you can’t just stand by.”

Cher also said the water company was the only one to agree to help her with providing relief to the crisis. Cher said she spoke to several American water companies, but none of them complied with her request.

Cher first heard news of the situation in Flint on MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Show. She immediately took to Twitter to express her discontent and frustration with the situation in Flint.

She also took to Twitter to share photos teachers from the Detroit Public Schools have posted, showing dilapidated conditions in the schools which face an impending financial collapse.

Cher is the only entertainment personality to provide such a donation to the residents of Flint. With her outspoken Twitter feed and national attention from her charitable efforts, she hopes others in her industry will follow her lead.

“There are people in my business who can afford to, and who want to.”