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Pittsburgh-Based Charity Sending Water To W. Va. Residents Affected By Spill

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Even though it's hundreds of miles away, Pittsburghers are helping out their neighbors in West Virginia.

It can cost around $5,500 to send a shipment of water to W. Va., and one charity in our area has already sent five trucks to help. Two more are also on the way.

The president of that charity says it's not about money; it's about making sure our neighbors have a clean supply of water to drink and brush their teeth with.

Officials with the Pittsburgh-based Brothers Brother Foundation say after they saw the obvious need in W. Va., they decided to team up with the group Gleaning For The World out of Lynchburg, Va., to help send several thousand bottles of water to Charleston, Danville and Logan, W.Va.

The 56-year-old Brothers Brother Foundation knows a thing or two about helping in times of need.

The organization has provided relief worldwide before.

"It's an awful circumstance. But in some ways our help is easy... all we're doing is providing water," said Luke Hingson, the president of the foundation. "It's a lot of water for 300,000 people, but they're close by, they are our neighbors and there are plenty of people to work with at the distribution site."

Hingson says they were able to get corporations to donate some of the water, but now they have to buy it because there's such a need for so many people.

All of the money donated for relief efforts in West Virginia goes directly to the cause.

RELATED LINKS:
Some Facilities Affected By W.Va. Spill May Reopen (1/11/14)
US Attorney: Feds To Probe W. Va. Chemical Spill (1/10/14)
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