Aretha Franklin To Donate Hotel Rooms, Food To Flint Residents

The Queen of Soul’s got a big voice — and a big heart, too.

As residents of Flint, Michigan continue to grapple with the toxic water crisis, Aretha Franklin has stepped forward with a generous offer of assistance.

According to WDIV-TV, Franklin plans to provide free hotel rooms for up to 50 Flint residents at the Holiday Inn in Southfield. The singer, who grew up in Detroit, will also donate food to residents in need. 

“Detroiters usually come to the aid of Detroiters — and Flint is certainly regarded as Detroit,” Franklin told the news outlet. “Hang in there.”

Many big names and local organizations have offered a helping hand to Flint during this challenging time.

Scroll down to see what celebrities like Cher and Jimmy Fallon are doing to assist city residents. Also learn what you can do:

• Cher
  
  Greg Allen/Invision/AP
  The pop divaled the pack when she sent 181,000 bottles of water to Flint residents.
• Pearl Jam
  
  Peter Still via Getty Images
  Pearl Jam donated $125,000 to the United Way of Genesee County, and persuadeda group of friends and partners, including Ticketmaster, to give an additional $175,000. They also set up a CrowdRise page that has pulled inover $350,000.
• Wisconsin Churches
  
  Raymond Boyd via Getty Images
  A group of churches in Racine, Milwaukee and Kenosha, Wisconsin came together to collect and donate72,000 cans of water to Flint.
• Girl Scouts
  
  Rick Kern via Getty Images
  Brownie Girl Scout Troop 71729 sent letters to Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder(R) asking him to take actionfor Flint residents. “I am so mad,” one Girl Scout wrote. “Flint’s water is not good for kids to drink and eat. It is lead,” wrote anothermember.
• Who Is Hussain?
  
  Who Is Hussain
  The Michigan-based Muslim charity Who Is Hussain? has donated 30,000 bottles of water to Flint.
• The Little River Band Tribe
  
  ASSOCIATED PRESS
  The Little River Band tribe of Native Americans in Ottawa senta $10,000 donation to the Genesee County Sheriff’s Office.
• Detroit Lions
  
  Mark Cunningham via Getty Images
  A group ofLions team members, led by defensive end Ezekiel Ansah, donated 94,000 bottles of water to Flint.
• Mark Wahlberg and Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs
  
  Dan Steinberg/Invision/AP
  Wahlberg and Diddymay seem an unlikely duo, but they are both part-owners of a bottled water company called AQUAhydrate. The two contributed acombined donation of 1 million water bottles.
• AT&T
  
  Bloomberg via Getty Images
  Telecommunications firm AT&T, which is based in Detroit, donated $50,000 tothe Community Foundation of Greater Flint for water relief efforts.
• Jimmy Fallon
  
  Star Shooter/MediaPunch/IPx
  The TV hostdonated $10,000 and asked 10 friends to match his donation on Twitter.
• Madonna
  
  Robb D. Cohen/Invision/AP
  Madonna was one of the celebrities who responded to Jimmy Fallon’s challenge. She announced onInstagram that she willdonate $10,000to Flint residents.
• Anheuser-Busch
  
  Doug McKay/HMS Group via Getty Images
  The beer giantis sending 50,000 cans (of water!) to Flint that are set to arrive in the first week of February.
• Rapper Meek Mill
  
  ASSOCIATED PRESS
  Rapper Meek Mill (Nicki Minaj’s boyfriend) sent 60,000 bottles of waterand an “undisclosed lump sum of money” to the Food Bank of Eastern Michigan.
• Craigslist Founder, Craig Newmark
  
  ASSOCIATED PRESS
  The founder of Craigslist announced a”Water for Flint” challenge on CrowdRise,in whichhe pledged to send 100 cases of water to the United Way of Southeastern Michigan for every $20 donation his campaign received.
• How To Help
  
  Dennis Pajot via Getty Images
  If you’d like to help the residents of Flint, consider donating to the United Way or theRed Cross. Or you can offer to volunteer for the Flint Water Response Team. Check out more ways to contributehere.

More News About the Flint Water Crisis:

How Flint’s Water Got Poisonous

How A Stubborn Pediatrician Forced The State To Take Flint’s Water Crisis Seriously

Obama Calls Flint Water Crisis ‘Inexplicable And Inexcusable’

What’s Happening In Flint Could Happen In Lots Of Other Places

source http://allofbeer.com/aretha-franklin-to-donate-hotel-rooms-food-to-flint-residents/