Volunteers from the Junior League of Boca Raton prepare for their monthly distribution of diapers on a recent Wednesday morning at their warehouse location, HCI Books in Deerfield Beach. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
By Sallie James
The stories the people hear at the Junior League of Boca Raton Diaper Bank are often heartbreaking.
There was the pregnant, unemployed 25-year-old mother of two who was desperate for help. A third child was due in less than two months and already she couldn’t afford the basics for her two little girls. Buying diapers for one more child was going to be difficult.
The same was true for the Lake Worth farmworker with two young children and a third on the way. His family didn’t have enough money for food, let alone necessities such as diapers.
He was terrified.
Both families got help courtesy the Junior League, which runs the only diaper bank in Palm Beach and Broward counties.
Keeping babies dry is what they are all about.
“We [directly help] diaper well over 800 babies per month,” said Kirsten Stanley, league president, whose organization will have distributed 2 million diapers to local nonprofits by 2017 and assisted more than 166,000 children. “Many of us do not realize that one in three Palm Beach County families struggle to buy diapers.”
The league’s diaper bank opened in 2011 and, after a slow start, now distributes about 70,000 diapers a month to 22 nonprofit agencies in Palm Beach and Broward counties. The agencies then dispense the diapers to families whose income is below the poverty line.
The league receives donated diapers of varying sizes and brands by the truckload through the National Diaper Bank Network and foots the bill for delivery. Diapers also come from individual donations.
The league distributes the diapers from a donated warehouse space in Deerfield Beach. And with the cost of diapers totaling more than $100 per month to keep infants and toddlers in the eight to 12 diapers they require daily, the need is dire.
Just ask the social service agencies that rely on the diaper bank to help their clients.
“We distribute over 2,000 diapers in a month and a half. We get a lot of requests from clients and we have a steady flow,” said Raquel Nicholson, an administrative assistant for Volunteer Health Services at the Florida Department of Health in Palm Beach County. “It has made a tremendous difference.”
The diaper bank has been working with the Health Department for four years and the Health Department says demand just keeps growing.
“They are pretty much always in need at our locations,” said Nicholson, referring to the Health Department clinics in West Palm Beach, Delray Beach and Lantana. “When we partnered with the diaper bank it was like a blessing in disguise. Prior to that we would try to solicit donations and purchase diapers for distribution. It was a lot of money and a lot of work.”
When the diaper bank opened, it distributed only a few hundred diapers a month. That number has swelled to average around 53,500 a month, but has spiked to as high as 70,000.
Stanley, the executive vice president of Meisner Electric, explained that a family’s inability to afford diapers can have a cascading effect: Families that can’t buy enough diapers change babies less often, leading to health problems and abuse risks.
And without access to diapers, families can’t take advantage of free or low-cost day care programs, preventing parents from obtaining jobs and perpetuating a cycle of reliance on government aid, she said.
“This dire situation is unknown to most of the community at large,” Stanley said. “When people learn the facts, it inspires action.”
Trecia Hosein, director of program services for Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies in Broward County, said her agency distributes diapers to at least 800 people annually.
“There is an incredible need for diapers,” Hosein said. “Diapers are very expensive. [The diaper bank] is an amazing assistance to us. We are very grateful.”
Anyone interested in donating diapers to the diaper bank should contact the league at 620-2553.
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