Artist-entrepreneur father and son pair Will and Jaden Smith’s want to use their resources and reach to help the people of Flint, Michigan.

Papa and Son Smith, through their company Just Water, are providing Flint residents with water fit for human consumption. So far, Just Water has donated 9,200 bottles of water to a community that, according to many reports, has lived with unfit water for more than 1,400 days, and has been encouraged to rely on bottled water as officials continue performing tests on the water. 

The story of the Flint water crisis includes a staggering example of environmental racism, given Michigan officials’ inhumane decision to switch the water source from Detroit-supplied to the filthy Flint River, a move to which residents constantly protested.  

M Live recently reported that upwards of 97 percent of water tests in Flint City Schools buildings show lead levels below the federal threshold that necessitates action. However, five out of nine schools had a building (or more) with unreasonably unsafe water according to the federal lead levels.

It’s against these tensions that the Smiths intervened.

“This just makes sense for us to do,” Just Water CEO Ira Laufer said. “Jada Smith has visited Flint and met with the mayor. Flint is very dear to her heart… After reading more about [Flint’s] challenges and the mayor objecting to pulling bottled water from the schools, we thought ‘Let’s help these kids.’”

Just Water’s website reports that it uses 100 percent spring water and bottles excess from Glen Falls watershed, rather than pumping and leaving. The company is also noted for largely renewable materials.