Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk was lambasted on Twitter at the end of last week for mocking the Securities and Exchange Commission. But in the midst of the kerfuffle, one organisation took to Twitter to thank him — Michigan’s Flint School District.
Thank you @elonmusk and @MuskFoundation for investing in the health/future well-being FCS Students! Your generous donation will help us replace ALL water fountains w/NEW WATER STATIONS & WATER FILTRATION at ALL SCHOOLS! Looking forward to our burgeoning partnership! More to come!
— Flint Schools (@FlintSchools) October 4, 2018
In July, Musk made a commitment on Twitter to “fund fixing the water in any house in Flint that has water contamination above FDA levels”. The vow came after months of people urging him on Twitter to help with the crisis — often after his boasts about innovations and investments that don’t benefit humanity.
Hello Mr. Musk, do you know what’s more impressive than flamethrowers? Helping the residents of Flint, Michigan get clean water.
— cfresh (@cfresh2180) June 10, 2018
Musk then clarified on Twitter that he would first send someone to install a water filter in homes that had contaminated water. The plan was half-baked like many of his ideas that start out as little Twitter eggs and eventually hatch into something interesting or awful — for instance, the Boring Company or his idea to take Tesla private at $US420 ($595) a share.
But regardless of whether you think Musk is funnelling his galaxy brain into social media or just showing his arse, one thing is mostly certain: When he says on Twitter he’s going to do something, he generally tries to follow through in some fashion.
Fortunately, he’s starting to make good on his promise to help the residents of Flint. The Flint School District announced on Friday that a $US480,350 ($680,339) donation from Musk will be used to install ultraviolet filters at all the Flint school and administration buildings. The project is expected to be completed by January 2019, according to a report from mlive.com
In a statement to mlive.com, Flint Community Schools Superintendent Derrick Lopez said the school district is “deeply grateful for the generosity and the budding partnership between Flint Community Schools, the Musk Foundation and Elon Musk”.
Musk and his brother Kimbal created the Musk Foundation in 2002.
“The new water filtration systems will be instrumental in helping our students return to the normalcy of what should be a fundamental right: Having access to safe, clean water from water fountains in their school,” Lopez told the Michigan outlet.
Now people should start tweeting at Musk asking him to figure out how to geoengineer the Earth back to the 1700s.