FLINT, Mich. – Flint Resident Aaron Neeley has been working to help aid those affected by the Flint water crisis since 2014.
He says he hasn’t worked a “regular” job since 2014 when the water crisis began. “I say regular because everything that I’ve been doing has been related in one fashion or another to the Flint water crisis,” he explained.
Neeley now works for the Flint Registry as an interviewer and data collector. His job is to interview those affected by the water crisis, connecting them with resources that may help with their struggles. It’s a lot more than that; Neeley wants to hear people’s stories and make them feel heard and understood.
“Understanding that there are still things that we can do for ourselves to mitigate the effects of lead…understanding that we’re all Flint residents and there’s ways that we can support each other,” he said.
Flint Registry Meet Aaron Neeley from Flint Registry on Vimeo.
The Flint Registry is a public health registry funded by a grant given to Michigan State University from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Its goal is to connect those affected by the Flint water crisis to resources and services.
“Knowing that I’m a Flint resident and the purpose of this initiative is to connect Flint residents with resources that can help empower them to be a better person in their community, be powerful, be healthy, be happy, live a long successful life,” Neeley said.
Before working at the Registry, Neeley worked for Veterans of Now, where he said he had an impactful mentor who taught him the importance of helping people with whatever resources are available.
“He was somebody that really showed me how to be selfless and how to grasp the resources that I do have and be everything that I can be, and whatever I cannot accomplish by myself how to go out and be an army, build an army,” Neeley said.
After his job at Veterans of Now, Neeley took what he learned to a job with the Department of Environmental Quality. He went door to door with water, changed people’s water filters, educated people on how to use the filters, and educated people on the water crisis.
“That type of access to information should be given to everybody before they’re poisoned. You should know what lead can do to you if you’ve come into contact with lead, not through the fault of your own, but because you trusted people who have been put into positions to protect you and we were not protected from those types of things,” Neeley said.
With the Registry, he says it’s important to continue this education so that people know what resources are available to them.
“At this point, to be able to go back and educate those people and do what we can to help…any way that we can support them,” he said.
It’s also extremely important to make sure people are not only being educated but listened to, Neeley emphasized.
“Making people comfortable enough to want to open up about their concerns and feel free to share their story, that’s one of the biggest things that helps people heal in this city,” said Neeley.
Neeley himself was affected by the water crisis. He knows how hard it can be; he suggests that the best thing to do moving forward is to continue encouraging the community to come together.
“I had skin rashes, I had concerns about feeding my daughter this water… There are definitely things we have all dealt with as Flint residents and I feel like collectively we can all emotionally support each other.”