Imagine only being able to change your baby’s diaper once a day in order to make it last until your next paycheck. For an average infant, a healthy change of diapers is up to 12 times per day, and 8 for a toddler. For low income families, a baby can be in a single diaper all day long or longer. This increases the risk of skin infection and worse. Currently there is No “safety net” (WIC, Food Stamps, Medicare (except hospice) that pays for or provides diapers.

• Find a partner organization to donate your diapers to
  • You can find a local diaper bank at: www.NationalDiaperBankNetwork.org If there isn’t a local diaper bank in your area, reach out to agencies like women’s shelters, food pantries, publicly funded child care centers, health clinics and churches.
• Pick a theme
  • Such as UAW Women Diaper drive or “stuff the truck” where you get enough donated diapers to fill a truck.
• Set goals and select a start and end date and find a location
  • Usually, diaper drives last from a week to a month. A centrally located collection location is best, such as your local union hall, worksite or use both locations.
• Spread the word
  • Announce your diaper drive via social media; send press releases to local media outlets; and, post notices within the community.
• Collect and deliver diapers
  • Deliver the donated diapers to your partner organization(s).
• Post a recap
  • Via social media and/or your local union website

Diaper Drive Quick Facts:

Diapers cannot be purchased through any government assistance program; Government safety-net programs do not recognize diapers as a basic need, they are classified with cigarettes, alcohol and pet food as disallowed purchases.

For children less than 6 years of age, 1 in 4 live in poverty. Of these children 56% came from a family with a female head of household.

Although the poverty rate is 15%, the percentage of women head of household families who live in poverty is double the national average.

Women remain at an income disadvantage compared to men. Women earn around 77 cents for every dollar men earn.

5.8 million babies in the United States aged three or younger live in poor or low-income families.

Disposable diapers cost up to $70-$80 per month per baby.

Most child care centers require parents to provide a day’s supply of disposable diapers (4 to 6 changes daily) and these diapers must stay at the child care center.

For sanitary reasons, coin-operated laundromats often don’t allow customers to wash cloth diapers.

Diapers are also needed for adults. There are many low income seniors who regularly use diapers and their monthly social security checks do not stretch far enough to be able to allow them to change as often as needed.