When members of Mountain of Blessings Christian Center in Henrico County learned about the water contamination in Flint, Mich., they decided to pitch in to help residents living through the crisis.

Pastor Dimitri Bradley Mountain of Blessings first reached out to the Victorious Word Church in Flint after he learned the church was in need of assistance. He also wanted to assist other residents of the predominately African-American community, 40 percent of whom live in poverty.

“I believe that, as the church, we are called to do good,” Pastor Bradley explained to the Free Press. “That is just what we do. I believe the Lord led me to that find that particular church, so we decided to be a blessing any way that we could.”

Originally, Pastor Bradley urged his congregants in the more than 2,000-member house of worship at 4700 Oakley’s Lane in Eastern Henrico County to donate enough money to purchase a minimum of 250 water filters at a cost of $30 apiece, or to individually donate filters.

“They (Victorious Word Church) stressed that this was their greatest need due to their inability to accomplish common everyday tasks such as washing clothes, bathing, etc.,” said Mountain of Blessings member Terrell Kitrell, one of the people also behind the distribution effort.

“We then contacted Flint’s Department of Public Works, which directed us to the Michigan government website that has documentation on which filters are shown to be effective in the current situation,” he added.

As word of their effort has spread, Mountain of Blessings has exceeded its original goal. Already, the church sent 250 filters to Flint in early February, Pastor Bradley said. The congregation wants to distribute up to 750 more as people purchase or donate more.

The Michigan catastrophe began when officials switched Flint’s water source from Lake Huron to the Flint River in 2014 as a cost-saving measure amid a financial emergency.

Shortly after the switch, many of Flint’s 99,000 residents complained their water looked, smelled and tasted bad. Since then, children and adults have been sickened by the water, with reports of rashes, hair loss and other illnesses.

The tragic event has caused a national outcry and many have called for the officials responsible to be fired or to resign.

Separately, Mountain of Blessings, which ended its bid to purchase the Richmond Christian Center property on South Side last May, has opened a second location in Chesterfield County at Swift Creek Middle School and is actively looking for more opportunities to expand, according to Pastor Bradley.