CONNOQUENESSING TWP — The White Oak Springs Presbyterian Church is looking for online donations to raise money to buy clean drinking water for residents of the Woodlands community.

The Rev. Lee Dreyer said a volunteer with the church started a fundraiser on RedBasket.org to raise money for the church’s water bank.

“We’ve never done anything like this before,” Dreyer said.

The church hopes to raise $7,200 to buy more than 7,200 gallons of clean drinking water.

Dreyer said the church donates 300 to 400 gallons of water per week to about 50 families in the Woodlands.

Rosemary Smith of Butler Township set the account up at RedBasket.org, a free crowdfunding website based in Omaha.

All the donations will go to the water bank to provide water to the households, the website said in a news release. No fees are charged to donors when giving through Red Basket.

Dreyer said the church has had other fundraisers in the past for the water bank, including spaghetti dinners and square dances.

“But the lion’s share of our donations just come from people sending $20 checks,” he said.

Residents in the Woodlands have reported declining water quality in recent years, many attributing the problem as a result of natural gas drilling.

Rex Energy, which has wells near the development, and the state Department of Environmental Protection have studied water issues and have issued reports stating the drilling has not affected the Woodlands’ water.

But a professor at Duquesne University last year issued a report saying the combination of old mines and Marcellus Shale gas drilling may have contaminated the water wells of some residents.

To support the water bank’s fundraiser, visit RedBasket.org/434. The online project is titled “Bringing Water to Woodlands.”

Dreyer said donations also can be mailed to the church at 102 Shannon Road, Renfrew, PA 16053. Checks should be made out to Water for Woodlands.