DETROIT — At St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Detroit’s Corktown neighborhood, dozens of volunteers gathered this week to unload a truck full of water bottles to distribute to those whose water remains off in the city.
The center is one of three Detroit water service stations staffed by volunteers, and all have quickly exhausted their supplies and struggled to re-stock them during the coronavirus crisis.
“There has been no distributor willing to sell us bulk water,” said Monica Lewis-Patrick, CEO of We the People of Detroit, an activist group, as she carried water from the truck to the church.
“It’s because of hoarding and people’s fears around the pandemic.”