Water sales moving from intersections to a kiosk in Downtown Atlanta

Organization helps boys who sell water

A local organization is helping the young men at the intersections who sell water to be able to push their wares safely.

ATLANTA - Some of the young men selling water at intersections will now be selling it out of a kiosk in Downtown Atlanta.

Those will be located along Peachtree Street. The nonprofit HEY! Helping Empower Youth is now operating a kiosk. The kiosk is part of Atlanta's vending program. There are some snacks and swag, but mostly they are selling water.

"This is the HEY! Water and this is what you'll get when you come to the kiosk," said KaCey Venning, the executive director of HEY!.

The people making the sales have a great deal of experience.

"These are the young men that were selling water at intersections. Our organization pulled about 25 young men off the intersections, the street corners," said Venning.

The young men will be paid.

"If we're going to pull them from something they've identified as a way to meet their needs, we can't in good faith say come do this, and they still don't have a way to make money," she said.

They will also be learning some lifelong business skills.

"Retail operations, customer service, what it means to be a sales person, understanding inventory, what it means to market and get creative," said Venning.

Venning says it's a positive way to keep the children, and others, safe.

Over the past few years there have been many problems connected to the water sales, from children being struck while running in and out of traffic, to some of the children being too aggressive, both verbally and physically, even pulling guns on drivers.

"This is an opportunity for us to continue to provide solutions to the crisis that we've seen over the last two years. We like to say the city demanded a safer way, well here it is," said Venning.

Also, it comes with a bottle of Hey! Water.

"It's the best tasting water you'll ever consume," said Venning.