Women United Diaper Drive
Beginning on the first day of National Diaper Need Awareness Week, Monday, September 23, and running through October 31st; United Way of Southwest Alabama (UWSWA) Women United are hosting the 4th Annual Diaper Drive to aide UWSWA partner agencies provide diapers and wipes to families in our community. Women United (WU) will be accepting cash donations and donations of diapers for children and adult in all sizes as well as wipes at the UWSWA office (218 St. Francis Street, 36602).
Last year, the community donated 14,783 diapers and 7,729 wipes. The diapers and wipes were equally distributed between Dumas Wesley Community Center, Goodwill Easterseals of the Gulf Coast, Mobile Community Action Head Start, Mulherin Home, Penelope House, and The Salvation Army of Coastal Alabama. These agencies will benefit from the Diaper Drive again this year.
“We greatly appreciated the assistance from the diaper drive” said, Mobile Community Action Community Outreach Coordinator LaKeisha Williams. “Several families were assisted and one in particular was in a tough place financially. The diapers relieved those cost for her three small children instantly.”
A resident at the Sybil Smith Family Village of Dumas Wesley said, “The donated diapers help a lot because it allows me to save money to pay on other bills so that I can move into my own place soon.”
To donate:
Online by credit card – https://app.mobilecause.com/form/PuR8rA?vid=1vrb6
Text to Give – Text “Diapers18” to 41444 and follow the directions in the response
Purchase diapers online – UWSWA Amazon Wish List – https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/3NVPN54ASOLDB?ref_=wl_share
Drop off diapers and/or wipes to UWSWA office at 218 St. Francis Street, 36602
In Alabama:
- There are 176,395 children under the age of three in Alabama. Sixteen percent of children under the age of 18 are an infant or toddler.
- 23% of children live with families earning less than 100% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) and 25% are living between 100% and 200% of FPL.
- 64% of mothers in the workforce have infants.
Diaper Need:
- Diapers cost between $70 and $80 per month, per child. Infants use on average 12 diapers per day and toddlers use an average of 8 diapers a day.
- One in three Americans have diaper need.
- In the past month, 57% of diaper insecure parents who rely on child care missed an average of four days of school or work nationwide.
- There is no state or federal safety-net program that allocates money specifically for diapers.
- A single mother working full time at the federal minimum wage of $7.25 makes $15,080 annually; thus, the cost of diapers represents more than 6% of her gross pay.
- A family with one parent and two children receives $215 per month in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). Diapers can take 37% of TANF allocations leaving only 64% for all other expenses – rent, utilities, transportation, childcare, food, medical, etc.
Diaper Need Results
Families unable to afford an adequate supply of diapers may provide less frequent diaper changes to their child in an attempt to maximize their supply of diapers.
- The failure to provide adequate diaper changes and diaper dermatitis and urinary tract infections (UTIs),
- There are potential associations between diaper need and parenting stress. Specific domains of parenting quality such as parental stress levels and depressive symptoms have been implicated as key mediators in the poverty and child outcome pathway.
- Parents experiencing poverty in the form of income and material hardship, for example in the form of diaper need, are subject to increased parenting stress. Children whose parents manifest high levels of stress or depression are at greater risk of social, emotional, and behavioral problems.
SOURCES:
American Academy of Pediatrics News & Journals – https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/132/2/253
Data USA – https://datausa.io/profile/geo/alabama#poverty_age_gender
National Diaper Bank Network – https://nationaldiaperbanknetwork.org