Dayton Diaper Depot needs donations for area families
It’s sad to say, but according to the National Diaper Bank Network’s Diaper Check 2023, 47% of families who are using diapers in the U.S. report they are in need. That’s up from 2010, when about 33% of families needed diapers.
“This need forces families to cut back on other essentials,” said Dayton Diaper Depot’s Mary Thomas. “Twenty-eight percent said they skipped meals, and a quarter of the families with diaper need had to miss work or school because they did not have adequate diapers to drop their children off at daycare.”
Dayton Diaper Depot was started three years ago to help alleviate the diaper need across the Miami Valley.
“Our founder, Maggie Schneemann, discovered that mothers were using their diapers much longer than they should have and babies were often in wet and dirty diapers,” Thomas said.
The diapers are distributed through more than 40 partner agencies including various food pantries, schools and health organizations. Among them are Springfield City Schools, Dayton Public Schools, Feeding Friends Food Pantry, Xenia FISH, Fairborn FISH, Bellbrook-Sugarcreek Community Support Center and Good Neighbor House, House of Bread, Threads of Miamisburg, Catholic Social Services and Wright Patterson Air Force Base Airmen’s Attic.
Thomas said Federal Assistance Programs such as SNAP and WIC do not help with purchasing diapers. The only program that can be used for diapers is Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, which also covers heat, electric and water bills, rent, clothing and transportation, leaving little for diapers. Only 23% of families living below the federal poverty level receive TANF.
“Our partnership with Dayton Diaper Depot helps us to fill that emergency need of diapers ..., alleviating some of their anxieties during stressful times,” Kristy Sherman, associate director of Women’s Center Ohio Programs, said she said.