Who is Mari Copeny?
Amariyanna ‘Mari’ Copeny was born on July 6, 2007. She is a 15-year old youth activist who lives in Flint, Michigan. She is also known by the name of ‘Little Miss Flint’. She is known for her role in addressing the water crisis that happened in her hometown.
5 facts about Mari Copeny
- When she was 8 years old, she wrote a letter to U.S President Obama concerning the water crisis in Flint (her hometown).
- She distributed over 1 million bottled water in Flint.
- She raised funds to buy backpacks and other school supplies for Flint children.
- She became a national youth ambassador to the Women’s March.
- She became an advocate of anti-bullying.
Inspirational quotes of Mari Copeny
“Kids need to see themselves as superheroes.”
“You are never too young/too small to change the world.”
The Story behind ‘Little Miss Flint’
In the year 2014, residents of Flint, Michigan reported changes to the source of their drinking water. The people noticed that the smell, taste, and color of their water had changed. For that reason, the Environmental Protection Agency conducted a test and found lead contaminations in Flint’s water supply.
Local authorities failed to apply inhibitors to the water that causes changes in their water supply. In January 2016, Rick Snyder (Michigan Governor) put the town of Flint into a state of emergency. Later that event, the former president Barack Obama put the town into a federal state of emergency.
In the year 2016, Mari Copeny was then 8 years old, she decided to write a letter to President Obama during the congressional hearing about the water crisis in Flint. The purpose of the letter is to have a meeting with the president, along with the citizens of Flint to help them with the water crises in their town. President Obama responded to Mari that he would visit her town instead.
On May 4, 2016, the President visited Flint and saw the real situation of the town. Later on, the President put a $100 million fund to repair and solve the water crisis in Flint.
In the year 2016 - 2017, Little Miss Flint, together with a Pack Your Back (a non-profit organization) raised funds to buy backpacks and other school supplies for children in Flint.
In the year 2018, after the free distribution of water in Michigan stopped, Mari Copeny raised funds that are over $280,000. Through this, she was able to distribute over a million bottled water in Flint
In the year 2019, Mari Copeny formed a partnership with a company that performs water filtration. This partnership aims to install water filters in Flint and other places that have a water crisis.
Little Miss Flint Continues to Make the World a Better Place
Despite her young age, it didn’t prevent her from making a difference in this world. She became a good influencer and role model, expressing and using her voice to tell the stories of those people who suffered from racism and wrong leadership.
In 2017, Little Miss Flint became a national youth ambassador to the National Climate Mari and Women’s March on Washington. She also became an advocate of anti-bullying, a member of Flint Youth Justice League, the chairwoman of the 2019 Kid Box Board, and a member of Eighteen by 18, an organization for youth individuals (which was founded by Yara Shahidi, her mentor).
Little Miss Flint has reached over $500,000, which she raised for her projects to help and support the kids in Flint. Her projects include giving around16,000 backpacks with school supplies, giving toys for Christmas events, giving Easter baskets, and more.
She raised funds (over $250k) to give away bottled waters. She also produced water filters by having a partnership with Hydroviv (a water filter company). These water filters are distributed to places that were having a water problem, just like what happened in Flint.
Speech of Little Miss Flint at the 2018 Social Good Summit
In her speech, she started by saying that water is the most redundant resource in the world. She stated how essential water is and how people struggle to have clean water even if they are living in a first-world country.
Then, she told her story about Flint’s water crisis before. She talked about the local government officials who neglected their situation and let the source of their water be a mess. She said that the water they thought is safe is poison.
According to her, the residents of Flint value more a bottle of water than gold. That’s why every resident had their own bottled waters inside their household.
The unfortunate event that happened in her town caused some deaths. Some people had respiratory illnesses, rushes, lead contamination in Flint.
She said that she learned many things about the importance of water and politics. When there is a water crisis in some cities, instead of solving it, some local government officials will try to cover it up, which is wrong.
Little Miss Flint said that after the toxic water was exposed, she knew that there was something wrong. She knew that she wants to help her community. She knew that she needs to use her voice to speak up on behalf of all the kids who could not speak up for themselves.
She said that having safe water is not the only issue. It is also about a lot of kids that need to be given support to be successful in life.
She said that even a little girl like her can influence and use her voice to fix what is wrong.
Mari Copeny ended up in her speech saying “vote for me as president in 2044!”
