Kellenberg Students Collect More Than 33,000 Diapers for Catholic Charities

More than 20 students, joined by other representatives of Kellenberg Memorial High School, came to Regina Maternity Residence in Merrick bearing diapers - 33,629 to be exact - on the Solemnity of the Ascension, May 29.

The diapers were donated in the school’s first Diaper Dash collection from May 13 to 22. Students in the top-collecting homeroom in each grade level, including grades 6 to 8 at the Brother Joseph C. Fox Latin School and grades 9 to 11 at Kellenberg Memorial, were treated to breakfast.

With Mother’s Day and the Church’s special recognition for the Blessed Mother in May, the month was an opportune time for the Diaper Dash.

The collection was inspired in part by an invitation extended by Danielle Campbell, director of development and communications at Catholic Charities of Long Island, when she was the speaker at an April Communion breakfast at Kellenberg.  

“We challenged each student in our school to bring in one pack of diapers with a goal of collecting 20,000 diapers,” said Peggy York, a freshman religion teacher who also serves as an assistant campus minister. 

The campus ministry center is known as ARK for Apostolic Response at Kellenberg. A student group, Christians Reaching Out Spreading Spirituality (CROSS), also contributed to the campaign’s success. 

Kellenberg does not have a mandated service requirement, but students receive regular service invitations.  “Our students are ingrained in service. They rise to the occasion,” said Mrs. York, an alumna of the class of 2003. Alumni were also encouraged to participate, with Dr. Valerie Serpe, the school’s director of advancement, reaching out on LinkedIn. 

Mrs. York said, “Our families are incredibly generous. They answer the call when we put it out there.” Kellenberg participates in other charitable collections, including the Great Ignatian Challenge food drive each fall, and she hopes that the Diaper Dash for CCLI “could be a new one to do in May.” 

Amy Agiato, director of nutrition and maternity services for Catholic Charities of Long Island, said Kellenberg’s donation was especially helpful because many diaper sizes were contributed, which helped to stock the supply from infants to pull-ups. Mothers enrolled in CCLI’s Regina Maternity case management program receive 50 diapers each month. “A donation like this is huge,” Agiato said. “Families we give diapers to, either monthly or one time, are coming to us because they can’t afford the expense.”  

The Kellenberg students impressed Agiato by showing up in uniform on a day off from school. When they arrived, they were seated near the front of the bus, because diapers filled the rear two-thirds of the interior. The students took less than an hour to unload the diapers and bring them into the living room of the residence. 

Brother Timothy Driscoll, S.M., provincial of the Marianist Brothers’ Province of Meribah, serves as a member of the Catholic Charities Board of Trustees. He had earlier said that his congregation’s schools, including Kellenberg and Chaminade High School, would be able to help with Catholic Charities’ diaper needs. In February, Chaminade students donated 18,000 diapers to Catholic Charities from their school’s first drive. 

“For Catholic Charities, it’s a great opportunity for the kids to get an idea of the Gospel in action,” Agiato said. “It’s a good feeling to contribute to something like this.”