Helping to slake the thirst of East Porterville, where several hundred homes are without water, is turning out to be contagious. As word of area’s severe water crisis spreads, more and more individuals and organizations, locally and statewide, have been collecting donations of bottled water for residents. Just Wednesday, 19 pallets of water were delivered from Matthew 25: Ministries out of Cincinnati, Ohio.

Graab said she issued the challenge to all Tulare County Girl Scouts on Tuesday and has been trying to contact the American Red Cross to see where to deliver the bottled water. She was also in contact with personnel from Alta Vista School who said they have a clothing drive on the last Friday of the month which Graab said might be a good time to offer water to residents.

Graab said she is also looking into a program by Tide called “Tide Loads of Hope,” which is a fundraiser to help people get laundry cleaned.

Donations of bottled drinking water for the Girl Scouts of Bakersfield can be delivered to 1831 Brundage Lane in Bakersfield. The collections will be delivered to the Porterville Area Coordinating Council (PACC), or another organization for East Side residents.

A group of local individuals have also come together with a few different water challenges to help residents.

Heather Reeder said one of the challenges is for businesses to donate $100. The first donation came out of Strathmore, Reeder said, and the individuals there donated $100 plus a truck to be used for water deliveries. On Tuesday, the group delivered about 200 cases to PACC.

“Jackass Mail Run have raised $200 so far, as of Tuesday,” said Reeder.

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