Hydration Campaign Is A Good Thing, but It's a Latter-Day Intervention To Deal With "Those Less Fortunate"

Back on 05 June 2017 the City of Mesa's Newsroom put out this press release: Link > http://www.mesanow.org
Mesa Hydration Donation Campaign underway to save lives
The Mesa Hydration Donation campaign is way more than "a stark reminder of the dangers of summer heat in Arizona, which first responders encounter daily. . . "

Any reasonable person might ask why the city is last-to-respond to  provide water to "save lives" in this excessive summer heat when the City of Mesa hasn't first succeeded to step-up early-on "to help people in need"  for basic things like shelter way before 911 first-responders have to deal with consequence of those less fortunate who are the homeless and the vulnerable ...

In the press release Mesa Mayor John Giles is quoted as saying "The campaign is a life saver for the less fortunate during the hot summer months. . . "

Don't get me wrong, there are some good things that did happen here in Mesa, like the opening of La Mesita a couple of years ago that met a lot of resistance and opposition from a group in West Mesa. Nonetheless cooler heads prevailed with a lot of help from LISC and other community support partners. There has been a recent expansion to meet a growing and under-served need and demand for affordable housing with some here in Mesa still opposing solutions, housing, services and resources for those "less fortunate" 

Why hasn't his leadership in this city exercised 'zero-    " especially for those who are unsheltered. Looks like it has now turned into an issue of public safety when Mesa Fire and Medical Deputy Chief and Public Information Officer Forrest Smith said. "Without donations of water, the outcomes of our emergency responses to cases of dehydration, heat exhaustion or heat stroke would be much worse." WHY WAIT FOR AN EMERGENCY? 

DEHYDRATION is the last sign of the failure of the city to meet the basic needs of people they call less fortunate, vulnerable and homeless.

Yes it is a great life-saving cause.

The campaign kickoff event included a donation of 19 pallets, or 38,304 bottles of water from Wal-Mart, which will be matched by Superstition Springs Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram; a donation of two pallets, or 3,840 bottles of water from Jackson White law firm of Mesa and a donation of 114 cases or 2,736 bottles of water from Landings Credit Union in Mesa.