On July 16, Nassau County Legislator Arnold W. Drucker launched his second annual summer food drive in partnership with Long Island Cares, in honor of singer-songwriter Harry Chapin.
Chapin achieved remarkable success as an artist, selling over 16 million records worldwide and being inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2011; however, he’s also remembered for his dedication to eradicating food insecurity. As a philanthropist, he regularly donated to charity, held benefit concerts, and co-founded the non-profit WhyHunger which works with more than 8,000 community-based groups across the globe.
In 1980, Chapin founded Long Island Cares, creating Long Island’s first food bank, which is named in his honor and continues to help Long Islanders struggling with food insecurity.
If you would like to support the drive, you can donate directly to Long Island Cares or drop off nonperishable goods at one of three drop off sites: Trio Hardware in Plainview, the Plainview-Old Bethpage Library, and the Syosset Public Library.
According to Jessikah Chautin at the Syosset Library, the drive has been “very successful”, and has seen a large amount of donations in a short period of time.
Chapin’s legacy as a hunger activist and humanitarian lives on through the efforts of the Harry Chapin Food Bank and its donors. As Chapin famously said, “To know is to care, to care is to act, to act is to make a difference.”
