Just when we thought we couldn’ t love pop star Bruno Mars any more than we already do, he goes and donates $1 million to the people of Flint, Michigan to aid them in the current water…
Just when we thought we couldn’ t love pop star Bruno Mars any more than we already do, he goes and donates $1 million to the people of Flint, Michigan to aid them in the current water crisis.
According to Vanity Fair, Mars announced that he was donating the money to The Community Foundation of Greater Flint during his concert on Sunday at Michigan’s Palace of Auburn Hills. The donation came from Saturday’s sold-out concert “24K Magic World Tour.”
“This is why we love what we do, ” Bruno told the crowd following his announcement.
“I’ m very thankful to the Michigan audience for joining me in supporting this cause, ” Mars added in a statement to MTV.
Flint, Michigan is located 70 miles north of Detroit and has a population of 98,310 people, according to CNN. In 2014, the town decided to switch water sources and used the Flint River while a pipeline connecting Flint with Lake Huron was being constructed. It was later determined that the Department of Environmental Quality was not treating the Flint River water with an anti-corrosive agent, which caused lead from old service lines to enter the river. In August 2014, the city determined there was traces of fecal coliform bacterium in the water. They made the efforts to treat it, but the bacteria was found in the water again in September. Because lead can cause severe symptoms in the elderly and young children, they were advised not to drink the water. In all, over 100,000 people were exposed to the high levels of lead with 12 of those people dying after the contamination caused a Legionnaires’ outbreak.
Bruno Mars isn’ t the first celebrity to donate money to help with the Flint water crisis; Eminem and Cher, among others, previously made substantial donations to the cause.
What do you think about Bruno Mars’ generous donation? Leave your comments below.
[Featured Image by Paras Griffin/Getty Images]
