Harry Jones was honored by the Town of Huntington recently for his incredible effort to raise funds and donations of over 10,000 diapers for local families in need.
The student from Cold Spring Harbor was inspired to create a diaper drive by a video that was posted online by the Greater DC Diaper Bank, according to his mother, Carolyn Jones, who has been a supporter of the Save The Children organization in the United Kingdom since childhood.
“We watched the video and found it so sad that parents had to decide if they should pay the rent, buy food or put a clean diaper on their babies /children,” she said.
Jones, himself a Student Ambassador for Save The Children Long Island Council and a student at Cold Spring Harbor High School, contacted Huntington Town Supervisor Lupinacci’s office and the Town of Huntington joined the effort, collecting donations from employees at Huntington Town Hall.
Participants in the diaper drive included Cold Spring Harbor School District, Cold Spring Harbor Public Library, The Warriors Soccer Dads (CSH), St Patrick's Church, Huntington Public Library, Family Service League, YMCA Huntington, New York Life Insurance Company, Melville, and residents across the Huntington community.
“Harry’s generous and conscientious spirit should serve as an example to all our young residents and we were thrilled to participate in this worthy cause,” said Supervisor Lupinacci, who presented Mr. Jones with a pin of the Town seal for his efforts in raising funds and donations of over 10,000 diapers for families in need.
“I have been working with Save The Children for some time now and wanted to be able to organize some kind of drive that would not entail just donating money,” said Jones. “During the pandemic and trying to social distance, I thought what could be easier than ordering diapers through Amazon and having them delivered to my house, and it just grew from there!”
The diapers will be distributed to families throughout Long Island through the Family Service League.
In the above photo: (1) Supervisor Chad A. Lupinacci joins Harry Jones, Student Ambassador for Save The Children Long Island, with Susie Futter & Lori Homer, Save The Children Long Island; Carolyn Jones (Harry’s mother and supporter of Save The Children United Kingdom since childhood); Eileen Knauer, Senior Vice President Operations at YMCA of Long Island and several YMCA staff; Joanna Adams, Huntington Library Director; Jim Calero, Outreach Director at St Patrick's Church; Lisa Jamison, Family Service League. (2) Participants not pictured: Tim Jones, Harry's dad; members of Tim's soccer team, The Warriors Soccer Dads in CSH; Frances Spatafora, Supervisor Lupinacci’s Office, Huntington Town Hall; Dr. Jim Bolen, Principal, Cold Spring Harbor High School; Mr. Homer, Teacher, CSH High School; Suzette at CSH Library; John P. Curry, Managing Partner, Brian Miller, Marketing Development Manager, and agents at New York Life Insurance Company, Melville.