Residents worry contaminated well water is making them sick.
Andrew West and Janine Zeitlin/news-press.com More than two tons of bottled water poured into Charleston Park, the rural Alva community that lacks clean running water, thanks to donations from the local nonprofit outreach group Blankets & Blessings.
Jonathan Vanderbur, a Blankets & Blessings board member, spearheaded the Saturday effort with volunteers from Blankets & Blessings and the Charleston Park community center.
“It’s ridiculous that this is a problem in a place like Southwest Florida as rich as it is.
It’s embarrassing.
Recent research done for Alva Inc. shows Charleston Park is owned largely by people who don’t live there.
The parcel-by-parcel Alva Inc. review showed 28 percent, or 37 of the 131 owners of record in Charleston Park, have Charleston Park addresses.
Other addresses ranged from Honolulu to the United Kingdom to Las Vegas.
How to Help Anyone interested in donating water for Charleston Park can contact Vanderbur with Blankets & Blessings at AquaJets76@gmail.com.
The group is also collecting tax-deductible donations for water treatment.