After the contaminated water in Flint made headlines the past month, student groups have been collaborating at Central Michigan University to raise money, water and resources for the people of Flint who are affected.

About 15 members from Phi Delta Theta will distribute 38,400 bottles of water alongside some members of other on-campus organizations and members of Kettering University's Phi Delta Theta chapter. Flint residents will also be able to recycle empty water bottles at the Sam's Club parking lot distribution site.

Phi Delta Theta created a GoFundMe page in January to raise money for the distribution. They've collected $1,300 and will receive about $700 from the Dodgeball for Flint event sponsored by the Student Government Association, Residence Hall Assembly, pre-law fraternity Phi Alpha Delta and Phi Delta Theta. Sam's Club will cover the rest of the semi-truck costs, said Bad Axe freshman and Phi Delta Theta secretary Galen Miller.

"I spoke with the Sam's Club owner and he told me that was a big problem," Miller said. "He wanted people to bring empty bottles to the distribution site so they can recycle them because he said that's been a major problem down there and they really want to help the environment as well as the people of Flint."

Phi Delta Theta is accepting donations until Saturday on the GoFundMe page.

Members of Thrive Church also recently distributed water in Flint after City Campus Church in Columbus, Ohio challenged them to see which church could collect the most water. If City Campus Church collected the most, the Rev. Jason Raitz of Thrive Church would have to preach wearing an Ohio State jersey on an upcoming Sunday. If Thrive Church collected more, the Rev. Ben Thompson of City Campus Church would have to preach wearing a University of Michigan jersey.

Thrive Church ended up collecting over 18, 000 bottles, while City Campus Church collected about 40,000.

Raitz said he thought Thrive could collect around 10,000 as a fairly new church. He said the fact they collected more than that was "huge."

When members of Thrive found out about the Flint water crisis, Raitz said members felt discontent and thought they had to do something. He said they want to be a church that's "not just in the community, but for the community." Their passion for helping the community led to them collecting water for Flint, because though Flint is over an hour away, it's still close to home, Raitz said. Thrive posted on social media saying they were collecting water, then City Campus Church initiated the challenge after seeing the posts.

Thrive used various social media platforms to inform people that they were collecting water, in addition to promoting it during Sunday services. People from the church started to spread the word too and they received many donations from people who are not members of the church.

This past Sunday, after service, a team of people from Thrive met with City Campus Church in Flint to distribute the water.

Though Thrive did not win the challenge, having so many people join in and help Flint was a win, he said.

Several other student and community groups have volunteered, donated and hosted events to aid Flint. There will be an Open Mic for Flint event sponsored by Mid Michigan for Bernie Sanders and Students for Bernie Sanders at 7:30 p.m. tonight at Kaya Coffee House.

For students looking to get involved, the Mary Ellen Brandell Volunteer Center has posted opportunities to volunteer in Flint on OrgSync.

If you are part of an effort to raise money or volunteer for Flint, please contact us at news@cm-life.com