Day 9 September 14th, Saturday
This was day 2 without water in Chattanooga which seemed ironic since we were passing out waters all week before, now everyone needed it. I noticed places the previous night that had plenty of water, but it would or could reach a critical level of need. I decided to purchase an additional 120 Little Debbie snacks and 4 more cases of water to pass out.
This day I was bringing 2 of my boys, Owen and Everett who are 7 and 5 to help. The first time they went with Daddy they made peanut butter and jelly and passed out waters. When your children assist you must always be considerate of their needs, and I knew they could be very helpful when I was in town. They got to see what helping people is all about and I hope to teach them to be responsible in their communities for others in need.
It didn’t take long to efficiently disperse what we had. The cooler only holds so much water and ice so when I refill it for a second time that batch is not as cold. I always feel that I could do better. We would need a much larger cooler or just have the city put in water fountains.
My aim is to make common sense application to implement particularly useful and impactful tools for improved daily life. We can simply install water fountains, public restrooms, and public showers on many different levels. Either temporary or permanent, on a case by case or first come basis. There are a multitude of simple, quick, and relatively inexpensive solutions that are proven.
Until these things are started, the best option is some way is to hand out water in plastic bottles and bagged food from a truck.
Joshua David Kapellusch