Parents received a well-needed helping ahead on Oct. 24, when State Sen. Gustavo Rivera (S.D. 33) presented a check worth $50,000 to Bronx Health Link Inc., during the launch of the organization’s new Diaper Giveaway Program at an event at Monroe College in the Fordham Manor section of The Bronx.

 

According to the senator’s office, more than 300 Bronxites attended the event where each person received roughly one week’s supply of diapers. Attendees also had the opportunity to interact with local community organizations to access other resources to support themselves and their families.

 

Representatives from the senator’s office said the $50,000 grant allocation will be used to run the Bronx Health Link’s brand new diaper program, which will supply free diapers to 20 parents each week for at least seven months, in addition to the diapers distributed at the Oct. 24 event.

 

They said the funding will also support The Bronx Health Link’s Bronx Doula Access Project. Now Medicaid eligible, they said the doula services provided by the program will allow parents in the borough with childbirth education, birth doula services, and postpartum doula services.

 

According to its website, the Bronx Health Link amplifies the voices of Bronx residents and community-based organizations and equips them with the tools to achieve health equity. Among other resources, the organization offers help and workshops in breastfeeding, safe sleep, self-care, and maternal depression.

 

Asked if he knew what percentage of his constituents were parents, “Oh my goodness! I do not,” he said. “I certainly have a lot. I have about 320,000 folks that I represent, more than half of them are women. I think like 52% of them. I have a lot of parents in my district.”

 

Norwood News asked what kind of questions the parents have when they come to his office in terms of help they need. “The number one question that anybody comes to my office for is housing related, but as it relates to parents’ issues, there’s sometimes issues with schools, as well as just resources,” Rivera said. He said it could be healthcare access for kids, diapers, formula, and other high needs.

 

The senator continued in part, “So, this is the reason why I’m so supportive of the Bronx Health Link because this is what they do. They connect parents to resources that are necessary, and the grants that I’m giving them, that I gave them this year of $50,000 will make sure that this program in particular [for diapers] will be able to operate at least for the next seven months on that grant.”

 

He added, “And certainly, there’s going to be more babies that need them afterwards, but we’re going to do at least for the next seven months they have operated.

 

Given the senator’s ongoing, vocal support for immigrant rights, his recent arrest, along with other elected officials, following a sit-in at the Federal Plaza courthouse in Lower Manhattan earlier in October to draw attention to the issue, and in light of the recent and widely publicized media coverage of a woman who had been thrown to the ground by a guard inside the same Federal Plaza courthouse, we asked the senator if the woman was one of his constituents. “No, she was not. I actually don’t know where she lived,” he said, describing the event as egregious.

 

Norwood News also asked Rivera if he receives requests from parents asking him to accompany them on downtown court visits. “I haven’t gotten that request necessarily to my office,” he said. “We did go down. I mean I, obviously, went down a couple of weeks ago [referring to the sit-in].” We asked how his wrists were holding up after being cuffed. “They’re all right, they’re all right,” he joked. “I was the only one that got metal cuffs, which was actually not comfortable. Certainly, that was not the most pleasant.”

 

He added, “So then, I went down a week afterwards to observe normal court proceedings, and that’s when that assault happened on that woman, but I haven’t had the chance to go back.”

 

The senator also paid tribute to his friend, Mike McKee, a community and housing activist, who had recently died and who had attended his rallies for tenants’ rights some years prior. “Mike McKee was a legendary housing activist, founder of Tenants Pack and Tenants and Neighbors. We called them Housing Grandpa because he had this grandpa look for certainly the entire time that I’ve known him. He passed away just short of his 86th birthday, and he fought right until the end.”

Rivera continued, “There was one picture that I hadn’t seen in years. So a couple years ago, when I had this messy redistricting mess that led to my re-election. It was a messy election, but I won it, and then when I was on my way inside to the Bronx Ale House, which is where we did our victory party, he was actually having a meal outside so he was the first person that I saw.” He said his staff had taken a photo of the moment and he hadn’t even remembered the photo being taken. But that’s the one that they posted up on Instagram, which is like him. We’re both looking like fools, but we’re just like happy to see each other.”

 

He will be greatly missed. Asked if his death was sudden, the senator said it hadn’t been. “He had been fighting with brain cancer for the last couple of years. He had a couple of procedures. He was stable for a little bit, but over the last couple of months, it was kind of clear that this was going to happen. Even back in August, there was a party which they were planning for his birthday, which is coming up, his 86th birthday. So, there were jokes that he made, himself, about how basically he was planning his memorial. He was not very vocal the last couple of weeks. One of the last things he asked his husband, they live in Manhattan, was to take him downstairs when the “No Kings” rally was happening.”

 

He continued, “So, the New Kings parade actually went by his building, and he was downstairs on his wheelchair, kind of seeing folks go by, and a couple of people that recognized him came and said hello. That was one of the last interactions that he had with folks. He was not very vocal after that, except for the very last day, apparently, because he was there with his husband when he passed away at home.”

 

During the event, the college was evacuated seemingly due to a false alarm, though the FDNY duly arrived to verify everything was ok.  Outside on the street, as parents lined up for the giveaway, we spoke to some about the evacuation and about the pressures they face as parents. Speaking in Spanish, one mother, Fiore, who attended the event with her only child who she said was one and a half years old, said the evacuation had been orderly, despite the big numbers of children with strollers who were impacted, and that there had been no panic.

 

Speaking in Spanish, another mother who declined to be identified, said of the event, “All good.” She added that she had received diapers, as well as information about primary healthcare and health insurance which she noted was important. On the subject of childcare, she spoke of the cost, given both parents usually have to work. Asked what, if anything, she would like the mayor and other elected officials to know about the challenges of being a parent, she said, “Just that they please continue to help due to the cost of nourishing ourselves, and the cost of the diapers.”

 

Also speaking in Spanish, another first-time mom, who was also in attendance with her child, was asked what was the most difficult part about being a first-time mom. “When the baby cries,” she said, adding “and when they’re sick.” Asked what type of help she received from the government, she said benefits through WIC.

 

According to its website, keeping parents and their babies healthy is the goal of the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program. WIC is a federally funded, state-run program that focuses on the nutritional well-being of pregnant people and new parents, as well as their children up to age five. The mom added that right now, she’s not working because she’s at home with her baby but plans to later. She said that childcare is difficult to find and expensive.

 

Of the diaper giveaway, Rivera, chair of the State Senate health committee, later concluded, “Thank you to The Bronx Health Link for their partnership. It is our hope that we can continue working in partnership for many years to come!”