Mari Copeny, also known as 'Little Miss Flint', is a 12-year-old activist fighting for the children of Flint, Michigan. At only 8 years old, Mari and her siblings had to learn not to turn on the water in Flint, Michigan after news broke of a water crisis. All of the water that was consumed in the city had to come from a plastic bottle, and bottled water became the way of life.
As Mari was on her way to Washington DC to attend a Congressional Hearing on the water crisis, she wrote a letter to President Obama and convinced him to come to Flint, Michigan to get a closer look at the Flint Water Crisis. A couple of days before the hearing, Mari asked her mom if she could send a letter to President Obama, knowing that the chances of him looking at it were about 1%. About a month and a half after the hearings Mari's mom received a call from a private number. When she picked up it was a staff member from the White House on the phone. President Obama not only read a letter from little 8-year-old Mari, but he decided to respond and come to Flint, Michigan to meet her. President Obama's visit to Flint, Michigan gained national attention and support towards Flint, Michigan
Since 2016, Mari has fundraised over $500,000 that has impacted over 25,000 children in Flint and beyond. These funds have gone towards supporting students in getting school supplies, toys, bikes, clean water, and other resources needed to ensure a fulfilled and healthy life.
When the state of Michigan decided to stop paying for bottled water for Flint residents Mari stepped up and began raising funds. Through her bottled water campaign she raised over $280,000 and was able to distribute over a million bottles of water to the citizens of Flint. In the summer of 2019, she decided to switch the focus from distributing bottles of water to something more convenient and environmentally friendly. That is why she partnered with socially responsible water filtration company to bring state of the art water filters to communities all across the US that are dealing with toxic water.