The City of Newark announced today that more than $300,000 has been raised to date for an online fund opened in partnership with the United Way of Essex West Hudson to address community needs during Newark’s water challenge. To date, corporate support has been received from AT&T, Genova Burns, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, Onyx Equities LLC, Panasonic, Paramount, Provident Bank, Prudential Financial, the PSEG Foundation, the TD Charitable Foundation, United Airlines, RWJ Barnabas Health, and Wells Fargo.

Our partners have stepped up in a number of ways. AT&T launched a Text-To-Give campaign to support Newark families in areas with lead service lines. It is open to include wireless customers of Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint and US Cellular. Both Uber and Lyft are providing discounted rides for residents to water distribution sites. University Hospital is offering free lead testing to residents, as is RWJ Barnabas Health at both Newark Beth Israel Hospital and Clara Maass. The corporate community has also committed to providing volunteers to support the City’s efforts to provide comprehensive access to information for all residents.

“Over the last few weeks, we have seen an incredible outpouring of support from our corporate partners, and we are so grateful for everything they are doing to support our community,” said Mayor Ras J. Baraka. “In the coming days, the City will be out in the community with volunteers to provide access to clean, safe water, as well as helping residents sign up for our accelerated Lead Service Line Replacement Program so we can quickly replace every lead service line in the city. We look forward to continuing our conversations with them about long-term solutions to help us address this issue once and for all.”

There has also been an outpouring of support from the non-profit community, the faith community, and the business community in bottled water donations to the Community Food Bank of New Jersey. To date, 25,000 cases of bottled water have been received to support impacted families, including a commitment from Audible that covered the purchase and distribution of 100,000 bottles of water, the support of City Hope Ministries, a Newark-based church that helped to facilitate a delivery of 15 truckloads of water from Convoy of Hope, and numerous small businesses and beverage distributors like Liberty Coca-Cola and the New York/New Jersey Black McDonald’s Operators Association and Hispanic McDonald’s Operators Association.

On August 15, the City announced new partnerships with the United Way of Essex and West Hudson and the Community Food Bank of New Jersey to create the online water fund to support emerging needs from the water challenge, including the purchase of bottled water, and to coordinate bottled water donations to support Newark families. The creation of the online water fund and coordination of bottled water donations has been instrumental for the City’s efforts to provide access to clean, safe water. Anyone interested in supporting Newark families in the Pequannock service area who have lead service lines may do the following:

• Make an online gift to address community needs during Newark’s water challenge https://uwewh.org/water/
• Make donations to the Community Food Bank of New Jersey, located at 31 Evans Terminal, Hillside, New Jersey 07205.

“United Way is dedicated to lending a helping hand to our neighbors in Newark,” said Catherine Wilson, President and CEO of the United Way of Essex and West Hudson. “We are committed to bringing our corporate partners together with donors in support of our communities in need. Our online fund to address community needs during the water challenge has received an outstanding response, and we look forward to helping more impacted families.”

“This show of support from Newark’s anchor, foundation, non-profit, and faith-based community is nothing new, said Kevin Callaghan, Newark’s Philanthropic Liaison. “It is consistent with a tradition of working in collaboration to solve city issues. We will continue to work together as a community to move Newark forward.”

Bottled water is available to residents in the Pequannock service area with lead service lines. Pick up is available at the following locations. Please use the City website to view more up to date hours:

• City of Newark Department of Health & Wellness – 110 William St.
• Bo Porter Sports Complex – 378 Lyons Ave.
• Boylan Street Recreation Center – 916 South Orange Ave.
• Vince Lombardi Center – 201 Bloomfield Ave.

If residents would like to determine their eligibility for bottled water, they may use the mapping tool on www.NewarkLeadServiceLine.com. Bottled water will be available while the City continues to conduct extensive testing with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and US Environmental Protection Agency. Out of an abundance of caution and until additional testing results are complete, the City, NJDEP and US EPA will evaluate the data and identify the required corrective action as quickly as possible.

- NEWARK -