SKANEATELES — According to Kate Raddant, one of the captains of the Skaneateles Varsity Volleyball team, along with the bonds the team builds on the court, it is also important to build bonds off the court.
With this in mind the team works to do some community service and give back in some way each season.
In the past this came in the form of doing work to support the CNY Diaper Bank.
“In the past our team has volunteered at the CNY Diaper Bank, but we haven’t been able to the last couple years because of COVID,” Raddant said. “We decided to bring it back this year.”
Varsity team members were joined by members of the junior varsity team to volunteer for the diaper bank on Oct. 9.
Heading into that Raddant and her teammates were working to collect as many diapers and other supplies as possible in support of the diaper bank and its mission to help parents and children in need of diapers.
“My goal when we go to volunteer on Sunday Oct. 9 along with the JV team this year, which will be their largest group to come help out, is to bring bags and bags of diapers to replenish their diaper bank along with packing up the diaper kids for families in need,” Raddant said.
The team worked to get the word out and garner donations in advance of their day volunteering in a number of ways.
“I put up posters around our school and donations were slow to come in,” Raddant said. “Then we decided to add to our social media accounts that admission to our home game was a pack of diapers. We asked parents to post on their social media accounts and all of a sudden they started coming in and we had to keep emptying the bins to make room for more. It was so exciting.”
By Oct. 9 when the team went to volunteer, Raddant was able to report that 2,166 diapers were donated, which is enough to keep 43 babies clean, dry and healthy this month, she said.
The team was excited to see the support for this effort.
“I was overwhelmed with the final tally of diapers, 2,166 total,” Raddant said. “A team of 16 varsity and 15 JV was not enough hands to carry all the donations in. My goal when I decided to start the diaper drive was to walk in with sacks over our shoulders like Santa except filled with diapers instead of toys.”
Raddant said it is no secret that a lot of families struggle with diapers and other necessities for young children, particularly as prices on everything are going up right now.
“Diapers are an expensive necessity for families and it’s crazy to think that people have to make due without them,” she said. “It was eye-opening that all of the donations we brought in supplied 43 babies with clean diapers for one month. Think of the amount that could be supplied if more people donate.”
Raddant said this was made possible by the support of many in the community.
She went on to say the team is fortunate to have a good support network and in turn taking on these kinds of projects is good for the team.
“We are given a lot of community support here,” she said. “Byrne Dairy helps us with pizzas for our concession stand and Nest helps us out with our end of season banquet. It’s nice to pay it forward to other communities. It was great as a team to have a common purpose and give back.”
Raddant said she is grateful for all the support from the community and from the team that made this possible.
“We are fortunate enough to have two coaches, Coach Mulroy and Coach Vanvechten, who give their all throughout the season,” Raddant said. “They go above and beyond. When we brought up that we would like to bring back volunteering at the CNY Diaper Bank because we hadn’t been able to go the last two years because of COVID, they were all in. They gave up their Sunday on a holiday weekend to go with us.”
Raddant said the CNY Diaper Bank is always seeking donations, volunteers and other support.
She encouraged anyone interested to visit cnydiaperbank.org for more information about the organization and its mission.
