Siblings seek to help Lawton students have water bottles

A pair of MacArthur Middle Schoolers are making it their mission to get water bottles into the hands of as many Lawton Public Schools students as possible.

Seventh grader Zachary Watkins and his sister Elizabeth, a sixth grader, began their project last week. Their mother, Bethany Watkins-Bell, said it began when someone dropped a water bottle at school. With a short time in between class periods and more thirsty students than available water fountains, she said they saw a need for many students.

The goal is to give students access to water all day. Watkins-Bell said her kids began thinking about the impact of water on their lives when they got home from school with headaches. She told them they need to drink more water. The conversation grew.

Of course, it can’t just be any sort of water bottle taken by a student. They have to be clear or they can’t even be brought onto campus, she said. An idea struck, according to the mother. She told them about setting up a GoFundMe page and ran with it one recent night.

“They came up with the idea of raising money to give everybody a water bottle,” she said. “We just sat there and created one that night.”

Watkins-Bell said originally, the kids wanted to give bottles to all the MacArthur students. It grew from there.

“They want to get them to all Lawton Public Schools students,” she said.

Watkins-Bell said being properly hydrated during the 8-hour school day is just as important as daily meals at school.

“Students need to stay hydrated to keep them focused plus water helps fight fatigue and headaches along with many other benefits,” she said. “We have pre-ACT tests coming up, plus many kids playing sports, outside marching band, academic clubs and programs, practicing for drivers tests and many other great things — they need to be hydrated.”

Watkins-Bell did research and discovered for $500 she can get a bulk of bottles that hold around two bottles, or 32 ounces of water, she can order them through Walmart for about $1 per bottle.

“Their goal is to reach $500, that’s their minimum goal,” she said, “but they want to raise as much for bottles as they can.”

The night the GoFundMe page posted, Watkins-Bell said some friends donated and already put them one-fifth of the way towards the goal. By Tuesday afternoon, the tally had reached $420.

Distribution should begin this week. However, Watkins-Bell said, the GoFundMe will continue through next week at least.

“The first deposit of $350 is pending in my account for tomorrow (Wednesday) and we will be making our first distribution this week or Monday,” she said. “We don’t want any kid to go without.”