CONNOQUENESSING TWP — The church-run water bank that has served dozens of families in the Woodlands neighborhood for more than five years got a financial boost on Monday, as a group of religious advocates focused on environmental concerns wrote it a $5,000 check.

The small ceremony at White Oaks Springs Presbyterian Church, which runs the Water for Woodlands water bank, pulled together anti-drilling advocates and environmentally minded groups to celebrate the donation, which water bank organizers said represents between three and four months of potable water for about 50 families in the Woodlands.

The Rev. Lee Dreyer, pastor of White Oaks Springs, said that all of the money would be used to purchase water. The $5,000 check will buy 5,000 gallons of water, Dreyer said.

The water bank serves 50 families and distributes between 300 and 400 gallons of drinking and cooking water per week.

Many Woodlands residents pay Lick Hill Volunteer Fire Company to fill water buffaloes each month, and use that water for bathing. But some use the water bank supply for everything, Dreyer said.

He called the group’s donation a major boon for the water bank, which relies upon charitable contributions from private citizens, civic organizations and other churches to keep providing Woodlands residents with potable water.

“The main difficulty is financial, and today’s check helps considerably,” he said. “With the contributions from the MORALtorium and other fine folks, we’ll be able to provide water for some time to come.”

Things weren’t always so stable, though. In 2015 the effort shut down for about a month after an online crowd funding effort failed to raise enough money, and the water bank ran out of cash.

For residents like Janet McIntyre, who lives on Cherry Way with her husband, Fred, financial stability for the water bank is a vital concern. The McIntyres were one of the first families to join the water bank, and have been in litigation with the drilling company Rex Energy for nearly four years over the condition of their tap water, which the family says isn’t usable even for washing hands.

The McIntyres say they’re grateful for the donations that fund the water bank, but question why state and county officials haven’t taken action to help residents of the Woodlands, which has about 200 homes.

“A lot of people do care, but it’s not the people who should care,” said McIntyre. “A lot of people help us out by donations. (But) who should care is the lawmakers. They should be the ones caring for us.”

Monday’s donation came as the result of a crowdfunding effort by The MORALtorium, an informal group of religious advocates concerned with the environment and the effects of hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking.

The Rev. Dai Morgan of Swissvale United Methodist Church presented the group’s donation to Dreyer, saying it represented MORALtorium’s focus on the issue of clean water and fracking’s impact on the water supplies of communities across the commonwealth.

“We’re concerned about the situation at the Woodlands and elsewhere in Pennsylvania,” Morgan said.