Asheboro Church Collecting Bottled Water to Help West Virginia Residents

One Piedmont church is expanding its mission field across the border to help neighbors in need.

In Charleston, West Virginia, the water ban has been lifted on a number of businesses but an estimated 300,000 residents still have no access to running tap water. Last week, chemicals leaked out of a 40,000-gallon tank at a Freedom Industries facility into the Elk River. It's a key water source for Charleston area residents. The 4-methylcyclohexane methanol is typically used to clean coal. Since Thursday, people have not had access to running water in their homes.

So the Rushwood Park Wesleyan Church in Asheboro is collecting donations to help those affected by water contamination in West Virginia. Cody Williamson is the director of Worship Arts at Rushwood Park Wesleyan. After reading an article about the Charleston emergency, he organized friends to ship bottled water to their West Virginia neighbors. "We're delivering bottle water, 5-gallon containers of water, paper products so they don't have to use the water they do have to wash dishes. Also hand sanitizer so drinking water doesn't have to be wasted," explains Williamson

Pensky Tuck Rental has donated a 52-foot tractor trailer and Williamson is working with an area trucking company to get fuel donate for the round trip to Charleston. He's also working with several water vendors to secure large quantities. "To go around loving people and giving them what they need, that's the driving force behind this," says Williamson. "So we can reach out and help people in other communities as God would have reached out and loved those."

Rushwood Park Wesleyan Church is accepting donations until Friday evening around 8 p.m. The church is located at 1810 Old Farmer Road in Asheboro. Saturday, the truck will leave the city and go to the church's community partners in western part of Charleston.