South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
Junior League’s Diaper Bank to ensure every family in need has supply
The Junior League of Boca Raton is continuing its efforts to make sure thousands of babies will have diapers this year through its Diaper Bank. The need is even greater with parents facing unemployment and other setbacks because of the coronavirus shutdown.
Cristy Stewart-Harfmann, the league’s president, said that over the years, they have distributed over 3 million diapers to families in need through 22 partner agencies. They distribute over 600,000 diapers each year through the program.
“We’re always looking for what’s the unmet need in the community,” she said. “We look at where we can make the greatest impact. The Diaper Drive [which took place in March] is one of those areas we feel we can have that impact.”
“Diapers are a big expense, estimated at about $100 a month per child,” Stewart-Harfmann said. That adds up to $1,200 per year, for a basic item that all babies need.
With the impact of the coronavirus, agencies are reaching out to the league for help.
“A lot of the people who we serve are hourly employees who won’t be getting paid when they have to stay at home because of the health crisis. They’re really going to need the support,” she said.
“One of the other challenges for the diaper expense is that they are in the same category as alcohol, pet food and ammunition, so you can’t use it with any of your government benefits,” she said. “The money has to come out of their pockets.”
“A lot of our clients who have spent ‘out of pocket’ for diapers don’t have transportation,” Stewart-Harfmann said. “So then they’re going to like a 7-Eleven or somewhere like that to buy them, where they’re more expensive. If they had their own transportation, they could get them for less money.
“These families need to have diapers in order to go to daycare,” she said. “It’s this terrible cycle of poverty. Either you’re leaving your child in a diaper for too long, then health issues come up, or they’re just not able to go to work at all because they can’t come up with the diapers needed to drop their kids off at daycare.
“Our goal is not to provide all the diapers, but we’re trying to be that stopgap support at the end of the paycheck,” she said.
Companies helping out
Stewart-Harfmann said businesses are often looking for ways to help, but they don’t always want to give up the hours in the office, and she said they’re not exactly sure where they’re going to make the biggest impact.
“We had over 30 businesses participate this year,” she said about the March drive. “We educated them on the diaper need in Palm Beach County, then they let their clients or employees bring in the diapers.”
“It’s been so much fun getting the photos from the businesses. They’re so excited,” she said. “We had at one company donate over 11,000 diapers. I think it’s just incredible. They just rally their employees. They’re really behind it because it’s an easy way to make a big impact.”
Recently, donations have been made by Boca West Children’s Foundation, All Star Recruiting and All My Sons Moving & Storage.
Wouldn’t it make sense that a diaper producer would support a program like this?
“Huggies is actually part of the reason that we have the program,” Stewart-Harfmann said. “Huggies is the sponsor of the National Diaper Bank Network. Junior League of Boca is actually in the top 10% of all the diaper banks around the country, based on the number of diapers we’ve collected.”
Nonprofits receive diapers
The Junior League of Boca Raton Diaper Bank last month distributed 100,000 diapers to 19 nonprofit agencies. Junior League volunteers filled trucks and a school bus with diapers as representatives from the nonprofits arrived in 15-minute intervals at a storage facility.
Nonprofits that received diapers included Caridad Center, Children’s First Academy, Children’s Healing Institute, Drug Abuse Foundation, Farmworker Coordinating Council, Florence Fuller Child Development Center, Guatemalan Maya Center, Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies Broward, Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies Palm Beach, Mary Help of Christians Church, Mary’s Pregnancy Resource Center, Milagro Center, Opportunity, Place of Hope, Redlands Christian Migrant Association Belle Glade, Redlands Christian Migrant Association Farmworkers CDC, Speak Up for Kids (Guardian ad Litem) and The Open Door.
Some of the diapers were secured through the organization’s Amazon wishlist and some were made possible through monetary donations, according to the league.
“It’s a great way to hopefully stop the cycle of poverty,” Stewart-Harfmann said.
“One in three families can’t afford diapers. They sometimes have to make that decision whether they should eat tonight, or make sure they have diapers for their child to go to daycare tomorrow.”
Visit jlbr.org/impact/diaper-bank/, email diaperbank@jlbr.org or call 561-620-2553.