Four Area Nonprofits Team Up to Address Diaper Needs of Philadelphia Region Families

Four Area Nonprofits Team Up to Address Diaper Needs Faced by Poverty-Stricken Philadelphia Region Families: Catholic Social Services, Foundation for Babies and The Greater Philadelphia Diaper Bank Join with Cradles to Crayons to acquire nearly 400,000 diapers to benefit local children –

A consortium of nonprofits and businesses – local and national – are teaming up to provide nearly 400,000 diapers for distribution to babies in Greater Philadelphia area families living in poverty.

“Nearly 1 in 3 families throughout the metropolitan Philadelphia area struggle to afford diapers for their children,” said Michal Smith, executive director of Cradles to Crayons, which is spearheading the collection and distribution of the diapers as part of its June is Gear Up for Baby drive to benefit local children.

Participating in the initiative, along with Cradles to Crayons,  the local nonprofit that provides children from birth through age 12, living in homeless or low-income situations, with the essential items they need to thrive - at home, at school and at play, are –
 - Catholic Social Services of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, operators of Family Strengthening Centers throughout the five-county metropolitan Philadelphia area, providing support and education to families.
  - Foundation for Babies, Montgomery County-based organization committed to creating an environment in which all babies have a chance to a healthy start in life.
 - Global Sales/Business Development segment of BJ’s Wholesale Club, membership warehouse retail stores along the East Coast.
 - Greater Philadelphia Diaper Bank, Richboro, PA, the region’s leading year-round source for diapers, partnering with nonprofits and agencies working with families and individuals in crisis.
 - National Diaper Bank Network, New Haven, CT-based group dedicated to raising awareness about diaper need at the national level, and Huggies,® the network's founding sponsor.

“The need for diapers requires nothing less than such a significant and cooperative effort by the nonprofit and for-profit communities,” said Smith. “Each of the partners in this effort,” she continued, “is playing a critical role in this ambitious enterprise – from making product available, transporting it from warehouses throughout the United States to our facility in West Conshohocken, and moving the diapers, some 400,000 of them, to where they are needed – in the hands of the families of thousands of infants in our community living in poverty-stricken situations, who are served by the participating nonprofits and the scores of social service agencies they support.”

The first 140,000 diapers will arrive early next week at Cradles to Crayons’ warehouse, from where they will be distributed to Catholic Social Services, The Greater Philadelphia Diaper Bank, and social service agencies throughout the region served by Cradles to Crayons.

“Diaper need has been called ‘a silent crisis’ in the United States,” Smith noted. “Most Americans who have not faced this struggle do not know the problem exists.” The federal government makes no provision to provide diapers to those in need. Federal benefits such as SNAP – Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Food Stamps) and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) cannot be spent on diapers.

Diapers are a basic need for children, as essential to their health and well-being as food and shelter, yet nearly 1 in 3 families in America struggle to afford diapers for their children. “The hope and dream of all of us involved in this effort is to make a difference in this struggle,” Smith said.