URBANA — Crisis Nursery shouldn’t run out of diapers for a while.
A diaper drive sponsored by The High School of Saint Thomas More garnered a donation of almost 19,000 diapers for the Urbana-based ministry.
Students as well as a few members of the school administration delivered the diapers to Crisis Nursery on Thursday morning.
Naomi Whitman, Crisis Nursery development and events specialist, said the facility can certainly use the diapers.
“It’s hard to say how long they’ll last,” Whitman said. “It feels like we go through quite a few.”
She said the donated items are for children who are in the care of the nursery.
“And we send some goods like diapers and formula home with the family,” Whitman said, noting some families need help from paycheck to paycheck.
The nursery is dedicated to the prevention of child abuse and neglect by providing 24-hour emergency care for children and support to strengthen families in crisis.
The high school’s collection drive took place during Homecoming Week. Sister Bridget Martin, the school’s principal, said the key is to make the collection a competition.
The school population is broken into quadrants, and the one with the most diapers wins.
Martin said the top collector doesn’t really win anything. Just bragging rights and maybe a handshake from the principal.
Donations came from friends, family and students.
This marked the third straight year for the collection drive, and each year has brought in more diapers. Last year, about 16,000 diapers were collected.
This year, Martin said, closer to 19,000 were brought in.
Martin said it was the students’ idea to collect the diapers.
“It’s something different, something not everybody does,” she said.
By DAVE HINTON dhinton@news-gazette.com