Car Dealer, Diaper Pantry Teaming Up For Major Mother's Day Drive

MANCHESTER, CT — An area car dealership is teaming up with a Manchester-based diaper pantry for a major donation drive — Just in time for Mother's Day.

The drive began Monday and will run through May 13.

Here are the prticulars:

MONACO FORD TO HOST “BLOOMING LOVE FOR MOMS” DIAPER DRIVE

TO BENEFIT GENTLE LOVE DIAPER PANTRY

Each year, Mother’s Day serves as an opportunity to honor, love and highlight the role and contributions of mothers and mother figures in our community. As many low-income families are still coping withpandemic related losses, mothers are facing stress trying to provide essentials like diapers for their children. NielsonIQ, a data firm that monitors the costs of consumer goods determined that the average cost of diapers rose 22 percent from January 2018 to June 2022. Diapers are also not covered under federal social welfare programs like SNAP or WIC and cost $70-80 a month per child. Subsequently, some families are forced to prioritize other vital expenses like food, rent and utilities, and suffer from diaper insecurity- the lack of access to an adequate supply of diapers due to socio-economic barriers - jeopardizing the health of their children.

In an effort to support local mothers in need, Gentle Love Diaper Pantry, a Manchester-based youth-led nonprofit, is teaming up with Monaco Ford, a fourth-generation family-owned dealership to host a “Blooming Love For Moms” Diaper Drive at both their locations. Monaco Ford Co-Owner Chrissy Monaco is thrilled to support the pantry’s mission, saying, “We are proud to be teaming up with Kyle of Gentle Love Diaper Pantry again in 2023 to support mothers in need. We’ve had tremendous success in the past with our diaper drives and looking to make “Blooming Love for Moms” a huge success.”

The drive will run from May 1st to May 13th.

Donations from community members will be accepted at Monaco Ford of Glastonbury, located at 767 New London Turnpike, Glastonbury, CT 06033 and Monaco Ford of Niantic, located at 218 Flanders Road, Niantic, CT 06357 during regular hours of operation in the showroom. All sizes of diapers are needed, especially sizes 4, 5, and 6 along with boys’ and girls’ pull-ups in sizes 2t-5t and baby wipes. Community members who wish to contribute but are unable to complete a drop-off to the dealership can make a monetary donation through this link. Gentle Love and Monaco Ford hope that this collaboration will be successful.