Flint sends thank you to Bruno Mars after $1 million gift

FLINT, Michigan — A year after Bruno Mars announced the $1 million donation to help in Flint Water Crisis recovery efforts, the Community Foundation of Greater Flint is saying thank you. 

The Community Foundation released a video recently featuring some Flint children and Community Foundation of Greater Flint president and CEO Isaiah Oliver saying thank you to Mars and his concert counterpart Live Nation for making the gift, which has supported the Community Foundation’s playground project. 

Over the past three years, the playground project has built nine new playgrounds, including six this summer. (Take a look at one of last year’s builds coordinated by the United Way of Genesee County here.) This year, the effort was supported by the fund created by Mars with his donation. 

In the video, Oliver and famed Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha express their gratitude and describe how important the support is for the people of Flint. The highlight of the video is local children, including Oliver’s daughters Zaiah and Carrington, who yell thank you and play on some of the new playground equipment. 

The video also shows tennis and basketball courts, which are also being renovated through the project. 

The video ends with text reminding the viewer that lead poisoning “requires long-term recovery grounded in the science of child development” and why these playgrounds and others like them are so important: “Unstructured play and exercise has been proven to decrease the effects of lead exposure in children.”