Chapin founded Long Island Cares a year before his tragic death
From a quiet street in Huntington Bay, Harry Chapin built more than a music career.
He built a movement.
Best known for timeless hits like Cat’s in the Cradle, Taxi and W.O.L.D., Chapin spent his offstage hours fighting hunger, rallying students and lawmakers alike with a simple credo: “When in doubt, do something.” Well over four decades after his tragic death in a crash on the Long Island Expressway near Woodbury in 1981, that message is still moving people.
And opening wallets.
On National Guitar Day this week, the Harry Chapin Foundation announced the largest single donation in its 45-year history: a $250,000 gift from the estate of Patricia “Pat” LoTurco, a lifelong superfan and Chapin supporter from New York.
The planned gift, arranged years before LoTurco’s recent passing, designates the foundation as the beneficiary of her life insurance policy — a final act that mirrors the very ethos Chapin championed.
“It is deeply moving to see how my father’s music and his commitment to social justice continue to resonate so many years later,” Josh Chapin, board member of the foundation and son of Harry and Sandy Chapin, said in an announcement. “Pat didn’t just listen to the music; she took Harry’s message to heart and made it part of her own life’s plan.”
“Pat was a true community connector,” Michael Misvesky, LoTurco’s nephew, said of LoTurco. “She believed deeply in helping others and in the power of humanitarian work, and she held Harry Chapin’s legacy and spirit of service in the highest regard.”
Since its founding in 1981, the foundation has awarded 807 grants totaling nearly $2.9 million to grassroots nonprofits across the country. The new $250,000 contribution significantly boosts its endowment and expands its ability to fund agricultural, environmental, arts-in-education and community-based programs.
Fighting hunger
While Chapin’s lyrics filled concert halls, his activism filled food pantries.
In 1980, just a year before his death, he founded Long Island Cares, the regional food bank that continues to serve thousands of families across Nassau and Suffolk counties. He also co-founded WhyHunger to tackle the root causes of hunger and poverty, and his name lives on through the Harry Chapin Food Bank of Southwest Florida.
In 1987, Chapin was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, one of the highest civilian honors in the United States, for his tireless anti-hunger advocacy.
It was a rare honor for a musician whose greatest stage may well have been the halls of Congress and high school auditoriums, where he often spoke directly to young people about responsibility and action.
His music keeps helping
Last year marked the 50th anniversary of “Cat’s in the Cradle,” a song that still finds new audiences decades after its release.
A 2025 documentary revisited its cultural impact, underscoring how Chapin’s storytelling continues to shape conversations about family, time and responsibility.
But on Long Island and beyond, his legacy is measured less in record sales and more in meals served.
Top: Harry Chapin. Photo Courtesy of Steve Stout.
