EAST BRUNSWICK – A local Girl Scout has collected more than 6,000 diapers in order to help families in need.
Fifteen-year-old Ella Hornstein created the “Make-A-Change Diaper” project, collecting more than 6,350 clean diapers as a collaborative effort with the Aldersgate United Methodist Church’s Crisis Room food bank/thrift shop in East Brunswick..
According to a message posted on Ella’s website, mothers feel distressed and face difficulties when they do not have enough diapers for routine changes. A baby should not have to sit in a dirty diaper, and parents should not have to reuse them, she said.
Therefore, Ella has installed permanent donation boxes at the township’s Recreation Center, 350 Dunhams Corner Road; outside the mayor’s office in the municipal building, 1 Jean Walling Dr.; and at the Crisis Room, 62 Ryders Lane. The project also asks local organizations to adopt a month when they can host a diaper drive and/or have a diaper donation box placed in their facility.
“I hope to create a sustainable program in the Crisis Room in East Brunswick and I am asking all churches, mosques, temples and businesses to adopt a month and host a diaper drive. They can do this on my website. We can help solve this problem by working as one East Brunswick community. I am also teaching kids, through a program I created, that not everyone is as fortunate as them and will learn about diaper need through fun interactive games,” Ella said.
Ella has been a Girl Scout for 10 years and is currently serving with Troop 81355. She started the project this summer as part of her Girl Scout Gold Award project, approaching Nancy Kevin, board president of the Crisis Room.
“Ella approached us about her project to earn her Gold Award and she gave a very good presentation about her project at our board meeting,” Kevin said. “We already were collecting diapers, but it was limited and stretchy and we had a lot of families that were in need of clean diapers. Ella’s project supplies us with a diaper supply chain and a better way to connect with the community.”
Donations are accepted anytime. There is currently a need for size four and size five diapers, as well as pull ups.
For more information about the Make-A-Change Diaper project, visit www.sites.google.com/view/crisiscenterdiapereb/make-a-change-diaper-project?authuser=0.
Contact Vashti Harris at vharris@newspapermediagroup.com.
