'Matter of life and death': Community organization calls for water bottles after extreme heat

As temperatures soar over the city, organizations helping Winnipeg's most vulnerable are running low on water.

The issue prompted Main Street Project to put out a call out for water bottle donations.

"Water is a matter of life and death for people that are living outside in extreme heat, especially long stretches of extreme heat, and a lot of times people don't really notice that they might be experiencing heat exhaustion, which turns into heat stroke, and so it's literally lifesaving," said Anastasia Ziprick, director of development at Main Street Project.

The organization hands out water bottles to people in need using its mobile outreach van.

During a weekend of extreme heat, Ziprick says the project can go through three pallets of bottles.

"We got depleted with that long stretch of extreme heat," she said. "We have a 30,000 bottle goal, and we're about halfway there, so we're looking for donations throughout the rest of the summer."

Seeing Main Street Project's recent call for help, Kidus Teklu decided to try and help.

"So it was just the other day, and I was just sitting down thinking, you know, what can I do to make this situation better for the Main Street Project, so I just decided to get out of the house and just get it done," recalled Teklu.

Teklu bought some flats of water, went online, and challenged ten friends to do the same by tagging them in the post -- it was from there his water bottle challenge was born.

"You know if one person starts it, people kind of need like motivation they want to help, but they don't know where to start, so that's kind of like why I started, you know, kind of mentioned it all and what not and go from there," he said.

Teklu said seven of his friends have donated flats of water bottles so far, tagging many more folks along the way.

While he doesn't know the exact number of people participating, he does know each post and donation helps ensure no one is left at risk.

"It's so important that we're able to offer a bottle of water to anybody that needs it anywhere in the city," said Ziprick. 

"Whether they're just out and about and, you know, can't get to a safe place of rest or people that are experiencing homelessness that might be in encampments, we want to make sure that when we're doing our well-being checks, everybody has water."

Water bottles can be dropped off at Main Street Project during the donation hours listed on its website. It will also take reusable bottles.

The organization says monetary donations are also being accepted.