How to Host a Diaper Drive

According to their website, Help A Mother Out‘s mission is “to improve the lives of mothers, children, and families in need one diaper at a time.” They “envision a day when all families in America are able to meet the basic human needs of their children, including access to an adequate supply of diapers.”

One could always donate money and diapers to Help A Mother Out but in this post I want to share another way to help out by hosting a diaper drive. Their website has a toolkit with information on how to host your own diaper drive. They also have a list of creative ways to raise money and collect diapers on their website. Here are a few of the ideas from the organization:

• Throw a baby shower for a homeless baby. Invite the girls over for brunch and ask them to bring diapers. Make it fun with baby shower games.

• Host a bake sale. This is a great idea to involve lots of people for little cost, with a great payoff. Use the money to buy diapers!

• Collect loose change. At work, you can do this over a period of time. Community groups might choose one month to dedicate to this. Go to Coinstar, and redeem 100% of the money for an Amazon.com gift certificate to buy things from wish lists.

• Ask people to go shopping in their own closets. Maybe kids have outgrown a diaper size? Organizations will take individual diapers from an opened package.

I recently read an article on change.org about poverty that said, “It costs about $100 to keep a child adequately changed for a month. That’s like providing another meal a day. If you were struggling, would you give your baby three meals a day and not change the diaper, or feed her twice and keep her dry? It’s an impossible decision.” Help make this a decision that no parent has to make by supporting Help A Mother Out.