HIGH POINT, N.C. (WGHP) — Inside the Baby Basics closet at the YWCA High Point, visitors will find free clothes, baby formula and diapers.
“A lot of people are very grateful,” Director of the Women’s Resource Center at YWCA High Point Regina Johnson said. “One lady said to me, ‘I don’t know what I was going to do because I was down to my last diaper.'”
That’s a decision Michelle Schaefer-Old never wants families to face and what led her to launch the Diaper Bank of North Carolina in 2013 from her kitchen table in Durham.
“Diapers are critical … Without them, babies cannot thrive,” said Schaefer-Old, founder and CEO of the Diaper Bank of NC. Government assistance programs like WIC and food stamps do not cover diapers.
Today, the Diaper Bank distributes 5.5 million diapers each year at no cost to organizations across the state that work with families, including the YWCA High Point.
“We know that if someone is struggling with diapers, they’re struggling with other needs, and we want them connected to programs that can help them in multiple ways,” Schaefer-Old said.
Schaefer-Old said the need for diapers has increased by 2000% in the Triad since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
She attributes that to inflation.
“Everything is more expensive,” she said. “A family’s dollars are stretching, and their income is not increasing.”
The Diaper Bank had a warehouse in Winston-Salem that drew about 400 volunteers each month located next to the Winston Weaver fertilizer plant.
When the plant went up in flames on Jan. 31, 2022, the Diaper Bank lost one million products.
“Diapers do what they do best, and they soaked in all of that material and the chemicals that were low to the ground … We did have them tested, and they were found to be tainted,” Schaefer-Old said. “We had to lose our whole inventory.”
The non-profit organization was forced to make a hard but necessary decision.
“We could not handle the price of serving this region and paying for a warehouse,” Schaefer-Old said. “So we made the choice that we’d rather the money go towards diapers and serving families while we rebuilt.”
The Diaper Bank hopes to secure funding to hire a developmental coordinator for the Piedmont Triad and then begin fundraising to build a new warehouse.
“I’m proud that we did not let families go without in this region and that we have been steadfast in serving them, but now the Diaper Bank needs help,” Schaeffer-Old said.
The best way to support the Diaper Bank and ensure it re-establishes a location in the Triad is to donate money, according to Schaefer-Old.
That’s because it has great partnerships with manufacturers and suppliers and can purchase truckloads of diapers at a fraction of the cost.
Of course, diaper donations are always appreciated, too.
