As Westlake and Lake Travis prepare to face off on the football field on Friday, Nov. 27, the student councils at both schools have found another way for the student bodies to compete: altruism.
Both schools will be participating in a diaper drive competition benefiting the Austin Diaper Bank and the school who collects the most diapers for charity wins. The drive will run from Monday, Nov. 16 to Friday, Nov. 20 and the winner will be announced at the football game the following week.
The idea came from Lake Travis High, where student council co-sponsor Lisa Minck pitched it to her student representatives a few weeks back.
“With everything that’s been going on this year with COVID-19 and how challenging it’s been for schools to be open, we just thought that it would be a meaningful fun contest to have on campus for a good cause,” Minck said. “I’m a mom myself and my son is potty-trained now, but I remember all those years of buying diapers and I know how expensive they are.”
At both schools, students can bring diapers to donate on campus or order them online through their schools’ Amazon wishlist. The drive accepts all diaper sizes but is focusing on the bank’s most needed sizes — babies sizes 4, 5 and 6 and adult sizes L through XXL.
Bringing in Westlake High School added another layer of fun, and will hopefully motivate students to participate and beat out their rival school, Minck said. The two student councils met online to discuss parameters for the competition. Minck said she is trying to get a golden diaper trophy for the winning school. The principal of the losing school will also have to wear the winning school’s T-shirt for a day.
The Austin Diaper Bank serves 20,000 families each year across six counties in Central Texas with over 1.2 million diapers, and Program Coordinator Heather Trent said need has only grown during the coronavirus pandemic. Diapers play a crucial role for families, Trent said. Having enough diapers keeps babies healthy and keeps them from crying for extended periods of time, which helps the rest of the family function as well.
“Diapers are a very small piece of the puzzle but an incredibly important piece,” she said. “We don’t want families to have to choose between diapers and food, diapers and formula, diapers and medication. We don’t want that to be something they have to decide.”
Trent said that pre-pandemic the bank and its 35 partner organizations distributed 100,000 diapers a month. Since March, there have been many months where that number has been closer to 300,000. Families who never needed help affording diapers before have been turning to the bank for support, she said.
“It will shock most people to learn that one in three U.S. families struggle with diaper need, which is a lack of enough diapers for the month for their baby,” she said. “If you don’t have those diapers, you can’t drop your child off at day care and you miss out on a day’s wages and that furthers the cycle of poverty.”
Caleb Phillips, the Westlake student council advisor, said he hopes the drive raises awareness in the community that Austin Diaper Bank exists and serves families in need.
“Babies go through diapers really quick so if you’re having to shell out that expense every few weeks, I can’t imagine,” he said.
Minck said she hopes to turn the drive competition with Westlake into an annual tradition.
“Our two schools will hopefully be able to collect a significant amount of diapers and make a huge impact to fill up the warehouse at the Diaper Bank so they are stocked before the holiday season,” she said.
Adelaide Escott, the senior class representative at Lake Travis High, said she enjoyed connecting with student council members at another school while planning this challenge. She said at Lake Travis, the student council is trying to bring sports teams into the challenge by seeing which team can donate the most diapers.
Lake Travis High has also arranged for a dunk tank featuring Principal Gordon Butler on Wednesday, in the middle of the challenge. Any student who brings diapers to school that day will have a chance to dunk the administrator.
Audrey Lingen, a senior and the student body vice president at Westlake High, said it is nice to find a way to bring students together and generate some school spirit during a time when many students are not on campus and traditional events, like pep rallies, are virtual. Lingen said Westlake is running an internal competition to see which club can bring in the most diaper donations.
“In this time, where there’s so much unknown, knowing that we’re helping someone else is huge,” Escott said. “It’s great for our students to get so excited to help out a community organization.”
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