Early Saturday morning, a group of volunteers and Selma Cash Saver employees loaded countless packages of bottled water onto the back of a transport truck for people in Wilcox County in need of fresh, clean water.

According to a Alabama News Network story, many families in the Lamison area of Wilcox County currently don’t have running water in their homes and haven’t for a while. Some individuals have gone at least 45 years without running water and make frequent trips to a faucet under a street sign to collect water in gallon jugs for bathing, drinking, cooking and other daily necessities, the report said.

“I thought, ‘that could be my grandkids, that could be my family. I’ve got to do something,’” said Selma resident Stephanie Walters of her response to the Wilcox County report.

Walters said she was moved by the report and drove down to the Selma Cash Saver to seek support from the store manager, Phyllis Pierce, to collect water for those in need.

“Immediately, I jumped up and got in my car and I came down [to the store],” Walters said. “I told her we are going to have to put our heads together and do something about this and the ball has been rolling ever since. We have been diligently working on it ever since.”

Pierce said the store began collecting water donations as early as Monday, Aug. 1. By the time Friday rolled around, they had collected roughly 6,000 pounds of water in Selma alone and another 4,000 pounds of water in surrounding areas.

“That truck is completely packed with water,” Pierce said. ”That’s a lot of water. We just wanted to make sure that these kids had safe water that is not going to cause any illness to them. This day in time, no one should be living like that.”

Walters said she is more than happy with the success of the water collection.

“I am just so grateful. I can feel the love and the outpour of the community,” Walters said. “It’s a love thing because everybody has been supporting and everybody has been donating and it just warms my heart.”