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In this day and age, we cannot operate at the levels that are demanded of us without hydration.

So, when I head to the bodega, local market or grocery store to buy H2O, I stick with the brand of water that I’m accustomed to. But for folks in northern Florida, they now have a Black-owned option called Live Alkaline Water.

Initially reported by First Coast News, Live Alkaline Water is a bottled water company founded by business partners Dr. Shayla Creer and Robert McCray. Both the product and the beginnings of the business are what makes the company’s story nothing short of remarkable and inspiring.

One day, McCray’s great aunt interrupted his church service to reveal that the family owned an aquifer, a natural spring, in North Carolina. She told him that he was chosen to be responsible for it.

“So, I had a great aunt that came to me and said, ‘Look, stop the church service,’ she came in, she said, ‘you follow me, look down the fields, she said, ‘Your blood of your ancestors is crying out for you. You’re responsible for this,'” he recalled.

The aquifier has been in the family for over a century, but for McCray, he wanted to bring all the benefits of natural spring water to the public. So, he partnered with Dr. Creer, and they pitched their product to a number of Walmart stores. Explaining that the water is sourced from an aquifer and a mineral rock bed that lies 800 feet below the ground, they were turned down by many of them. But one regional store said yes, and the rest is history.

Live Alkaline Water became the first Black-owned bottled water company to be sold at Walmart. And after a month of being on their shelves, the water sold out.

Their website describes all the benefits of drinking alkaline water, one of which includes the ability to detoxify the body with “The 100% organic minerals in Live Alkaline Water work[ing] together to naturally boost energy levels by cleansing your cells & ridding your body of toxins that slow you down.”

Right now, this brand is only at a few Walmart locations and boutiques in northern Florida, but lucky for us, we can still purchase it online. The goal of Live Alkaline Water is to promote healthy living (through drinking) because it promotes healthy Black communities.

“Cause healthy people make a healthy community,” he said. “I say ‘eat right, drink right, you begin to think right.'”

You can watch the news segment about this inspirational story below.â €

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Renese spends her early mornings writing, her days securing insurance for TV shows, and her in-betweens blogging about the silliness and seriousness of life on her blog. Follow Renese on Twitter: @reneseford

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