4th Annual Diaper Drive an Enormous Success

The Shorecrest Upper School Human Rights Club recently sponsored its 4th Annual Diaper Drive with the goal of collecting 1,000 diapers for Babycycle, a community diaper bank serving Pinellas County. In a span of two school weeks, donations of diapers of various brands, sizes, and types were donated by staff, faculty, students and family members, and the drive ended up yielding an incredible 2,564 diapers!

Human Rights Club Faculty Advisor Heather Elouej said of the drive’s success, “This was our fourth drive and the fourth time we exceeded our goal. Once again, the Shorecrest community was fast to act with its usual magnanimity when we announced a call for diapers. We received diapers from numerous students and their families, alongside faculty and staff members across multiple departments and all three schools. The HRC is extremely grateful to the Shorecrest family for continuing to provide this form of comfort for little ones across Pinellas County year after year.”

According to Babycycle, one in three parents in the US struggles to provide their children with the needed amount of clean diapers. This means that a staggering number of children are sitting in unclean diapers for extended periods of time, placing them at high risk for severe diaper rash and infections. Diapers are not covered by any government assistance programs even though diapers are a necessity for every child, and according to the National Diaper Bank Network, without diapers babies cannot participate in early childhood education programs. Without child care, parents cannot go to work. Children who participate in early childhood education are almost three times more likely to go on to higher education.