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Boardman organization tackling diaper need in Mahoning Valley
BOARDMAN
One in three American families struggles to provide their babies with clean, dry diapers.
It’s an experience that some mothers reportedly find more stressful than not having enough food for their children.
It’s also the focus of Diaper Need Awareness Week, which wraps up Saturday.
Making Kids Count, a local nonprofit organization dedicated to serving children, will host a collection event from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday at its 7178 West Blvd. office, wrapping up a monthlong drive that aims to collect 50,000 diapers.
Donors also can drop off any size or brand of diapers this week at area businesses with collection boxes. Making Kids Count accepts diaper donations (and items such as baby wipes) at their office any time.
The diaper drive is just one piece of Making Kids Count’s year-round effort to provide partner agencies in Mahoning, Trumbull, Columbiana and Ashtabula counties with 11,000 diapers per month.
For a list of partner agencies to which Making Kids Count donates diapers, visit www.makingkidscount.org/diaperbank.php.
Diaper need is an issue about which staff members feel strongly, quickly noting the host of related issues that can arise if low-income families can’t afford to buy diapers for their kids.
“Most people know that diapers are really expensive,” said co-president Jana Coffin, pointing out that infants use up to 12 diapers per day. Families with infants spend an estimated $900 per year on diapers.
Staff members also noted that government-assistance programs, such as SNAP, don’t cover diapers, and that low-income families often end up paying more per diaper because they are less likely to have access to bulk-buying stores.
Diaper need can result in parents having to leave their children in dirty diapers, which can cause staph or urinary tract infections.
It can also have an impact on parents’ access to childcare, since most day care centers require them to provide their children with disposable diapers.
“One in three families are in diaper need, and that means they’re often forced to choose between groceries, or bills, or anything but diapers,” said program director Colleen Eisenbraun. “That leads to a whole host of other issues, like not being able to go to work ... or school.
“No one should have to choose between food and diapers.”