By NATAN COHEN
Published in the Montague Reporter
FRANKLIN COUNTY – Area residents may be familiar with the spring diaper drive coordinated through Community Action in recent years. The grassroots community effort gathers a “bank” of diapers and distributes them to sites across the county. Each site then makes a limited number of diapers available, for free, to families they know are in need.
In addition to the central diaper bank at the Community Action Family Center (CAFC) in Greenfield, these sites have included Montague Catholic Social Ministries, the Center for Self-Reliance in Greenfield, the Orange Food Pantry, Valuing our Children Family Center in Athol, the Women, Infant, and Children (WIC) offices in Greenfield and Orange, the Greenfield Community College Food Pantry, Good Neighbors Food Pantry in Wendell, and It Takes a Village in Heath.
This year the diaper bank has fallen on challenging times, due in part to the disbanding of its original organizing body, the Franklin County Diaper Task Force, after its founder and coordinator moved out of the area.
The responsibility for maintaining the diaper bank has been picked up by the CAFC, but the organization, already stretched thin, struggles to keep up with a growing emergency need for diapers.
“About 75,000 diapers were given out last year,” reports CAFC manager Marianne Bullock, but as of this week, “at the central bank, only 2,000 are left, in all sizes. We have almost no diapers left in size 4 or 6, and are totally out of 5’s.”
According to US census estimates, 3,080 children under 5 live in Franklin County. About half may be using diapers; assuming a recommended average of eight diaper changes per day, those children likely require nearly 4.5 million diaper changes a year.
The diapers distributed by the diaper bank cover less than 2% of this demand, but the assistance can be crucial to the families that receive them.
A pamphlet produced by the disbanded Diaper Task Force cites statistics explaining why. Low-income parents can spend about $936 on disposable diapers and supplies per year – per child. Unlike other essentials such as food and health insurance, there is no federal assistance for purchasing diapers: benefits such as WIC, Medicaid, and SNAP (food stamps) cannot be used to purchase diapers.
The county’s poorest families, which may include parents who are disabled or unemployed, sometimes have to choose between other basic needs – such as keeping the lights on, or having food on the table – and having enough clean diapers.
The National Diaper Bank Network, a Connecticut-based nonprofit, explains the predicament of the 1 in 3 families in America who struggle to afford diapers. When parents try to “stretch” diapers, it can lead to major health problems in babies including diaper rash, staph infections, and urinary tract infections.
A shortage of diapers also can lead to children being pulled from daycare centers, which require parents to supply diapers, leaving the parents unavailable for full-time work, and thus unable to establish a stronger financial foundation for their family.
The struggle low-income families go through is echoed by Mary Conway, basic needs coordinator at Montague Catholic Social Ministries (MCSM) in Turners Falls. “I feel like [people who come here for diapers] are filling a gap that they can’t afford,” she said, “especially when you are having more than one bum to cover and they are two different sizes, which means doubling your diaper amount.”
“Diapers are a basic need,” Conway adds. “It can mess with your mental health from stressing – not knowing how you’re going to be getting your next diaper; having your baby sit in the same diaper longer than they should, which becomes a health risk for them. Rashes can lead to social services calls, because somebody thinks you aren’t taking care of your child right, which puts more emotional and mental stress on you that you really don’t need. One thing piles up to another thing.”
Conway says MCSM gives out about 60 diapers a week to several regular recipients, as well as a couple of newcomers each month. They are currently pretty well stocked, with several boxes of diapers from their last pickup, but the shortage at the central diaper bank means they may be unable to restock when the time comes.
Readers interested in donating diapers to the diaper bank can do so directly at the Community Action Family Center, 90 Federal Street in Greenfield. They are open from 9 a.m. until 7 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays; until 3 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays; and until noon on Saturdays.
Community Action is also able to buy diapers in bulk, which is far more economical than the retail prices many families pay, so cash donations are also welcome, just as with a food bank.
You Donate button online here and checks can be sent to Community Action at the above address, with “Diaper Task Force” written in the memo line.