Kanye West Supports Clean Water Efforts in Maryland

Kanye West and his father, Ray West, joined several St. Mary’s County, MD residents for the opening ceremony for World Water Day held at the G.O.O.D. Water Store and Internet Café last Friday (Mar. 30). The store, owned by West’s father, served as the site where county commissioners proclaimed March 23 as “St. Mary’s County […]

Kanye West and

his father, Ray West, joined several St. Mary’s County, MD residents for

the opening ceremony for World Water Day held at the G.O.O.D. Water Store and

Internet Café last Friday (Mar. 30). The

store, owned by West’s father, served as the site where county commissioners

proclaimed March 23 as “St. Mary’s County Water Awareness Day.”The

Good Water Store and Café is associated with his G.O.O.D. (Getting Out

Our Dreams) conglomerate and opened in November 2006 as the first of its kind

in Maryland. The

store serves water that is in its purest form, certified in three grades of purity."Me

and my dad have been talking about this for years," Kanye told The Washington

Post. "Originally, we came up with the concept of the cafe, and it only

made sense to get involved with activities like these."State

Sen. Roy P. Dyson (D-St. Mary’s) made an appearance at the event and presented

Kanye’s father with a proclamation signed by Gov. Martin O’Malley (D), designating

March 18 to 24 as Maryland Clean Water Week. Due

to the efforts of Ray West and fellow water advocates, Sen. Dyson presented a

resolution by the state Senate and pledged to introduce legislation to fund an

$11 million study on the state’s aquifers."Water

is a critical, critical issue," Sen. Dyson said. "We’re in an area where

there’s plenty of water around, but we can’t always drink it."World

Water Day started as an initiative posed by the United Nations initiative that

began in 1993. Now

in 2007, the Lexington Park area in Maryland is one of 27 cities in the United

States and Canada that were observing World Water Day to promote awareness of

global water-access issues.